Falling In Love With Love
by JRW9699
Summary: When, in the aftermath of Prometheus's defeat, Team Arrow receive a visitor from Earth-38 their entire world is turned upside down. For Oliver and Kara, though, things will never be the same.
1. Chapter 1

**Falling In Love With Love**

 **Rating: 'T'**

 **Characters (In order of Appearance): Oliver Queen, Kara Danvers, John Diggle, Thea Queen, Quentin Lance, Curtis Holt, Dinah Drake, Rene Ramirez, Alex Danvers, Hank Henshaw/J'onn J'onzz, Winn Schott**

 **Summary: When, in the aftermath of Prometheus's defeat, Team Arrow receive a visitor from Earth-38 their entire world is turned upside down. For Oliver and Kara, though, things will never be the same.**

 **Author's Note: Until further notice this is exclusively a one-shot, as I already have one multi-chapter story on the go as well as all the stuff I need to do for university, but it will hopefully evolve into something fully formed soon. For plot convenience reasons that I will explain as the plot progresses, this story takes place after 5x21 for Team Arrow (and Earth One as a whole) but after 2x10 for Supergirl (Earth-38).**

 **Also, credit to Nightwing Panther 2017 for beta-ing this story, I couldn't have done it alone.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Oliver Queen had only ever been sure of a few things in his life, right now though, he was pretty sure time was slowing down. What should have been a short walk down the hotel corridor was making his goal seem further away than it really was, and the aspiration he'd felt after stepping off the elevator was quickly slipping away.

Could it be? Was he… _nervous_? No, it was just a little mild anxiety, it had been a while since his last date after all, and that had ended pretty badly. He knew he couldn't kid himself forever; was Oliver Queen _afraid_?

Impossible…he couldn't be.

That thought made him even more uncomfortable. Sure, he was glad, of course he was, getting that phone call from Kara made his evening but he was still, somehow, nervous. Oliver Queen did _not_ do nervous. He regularly dealt with pressures that most people would collapse under, stood his ground in fights that would kill almost anyone else…hell he led an entire life as the mayor of a whole city while fighting crime at night!

Rolling his shoulders to try and release some of his tension, Oliver came to a stop before the room he was looking for. The door looked like all the others; rich white paint, authentic oak, shiny brass handle, but uniquely, just below the peephole, was the number ' _245_ '. Forcing his mind to stop panicking quite so much Oliver zoned in a little more.

Immediately he heard the muffled music blasting from within the room, though completely unaware of how he hadn't noticed it earlier, it made Oliver grin a little. It seemed a little redundant, to him at least, that someone with super-hearing would need to have music playing even remotely close to the volume that was emanating from Kara's hotel room.

With a smile now on his face, Oliver raised a clenched fist and rapped on the door with his knuckles, certain that Kara would hear him. In fact, Oliver was a little surprised that she hadn't heard his heartbeat or his breathing (or whatever else that super-hearing of hers could pick up) and opened the door to him already.

Hardly a second passed before the door was pulled open, undoubtedly aided by super-speed, revealing the room behind it and, more importantly, Kara. Oliver quickly ran his eyes over her appearance, a little surprised at how different it was to her usual attire. Gone were the bright blouses and skirts, in their place was a pair of tightly-fitted black jeans and an equally form-hugging black tank top. As taken aback by this change as Oliver was, he didn't register the dishevelled state of her hair.

"Glad you changed your mind about that drink." Oliver smiled, dragging his eyes up to meet her own.

"Come on in." Kara's breathy reply washed across Oliver's ears.

He was hardly through the door when Kara began closing it behind him, though again Oliver neglected to notice it, still distracted by both Kara's clothing and the music, which he had now identified as some kind of Electropop. On hearing the click of the door closing Oliver snapped back into reality.

"You should get changed, there's this new club opened up near Verdant that looks…"

Oliver didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Before he fully registered what was happening Kara had taken him, albeit lightly, by the lapels of his leather jacket and backed him up against the wall beside the door. When his back collided with the wall, Oliver was beyond confused. The tip of Kara's nose lightly brushed against his and for a moment Oliver could meet her eyes, some dim thought in the back of his mind registering that she must have been levitating, before Kara's lips were pressed against his own.

The sensation of the contact completely shut down the vast majority of Oliver brain, he was actually seeing fireworks, or at least he did for the brief moment that he allowed his eyes to drift shut. The kiss wasn't fierce or rough, it was light, almost passionate, and it was like nothing he had ever felt. Opening his eyes again, Oliver briefly managed to break his lips from Kara's, hardly a second later her hand tangled in the hair at the back of his head and her lips were once again on his own.

This time, Oliver was far more aware of himself, and managed to separate them hardly a second later. While Kara's lips never strayed more than a few centimetres from his own, it was clear she wanted to continue. While Oliver wanted nothing more than to do the same, he knew something wasn't right, Kara was _never_ this brazen. Looking into her eyes again, Oliver noticed something, his brain finally connecting the dots.

"Are…are you _high_?" He managed to stumble out.

Kara's lips brushed against his own before she replied. "Uh-huh."

Oliver was so distracted that he didn't really register Kara pushing his leather jacket off his shoulders until the he heard the faint thud of it hitting the floor. Turning his head slightly to think, Oliver racked his brain for how an alien from another planet (not to mention another dimension) would managed to get stoned, all while doing his best to ignore the feeling of her lips against his cheek. Then it hit him.

"I thought you sent the drugs back to your Earth?" Oliver managed to ask.

Kara lightly tugged him away from the wall, pressing her lips to his again. "Not all of it."

The moment Kara's lips came to his again, this time a little more forcefully and with a purpose, Oliver lost enough of his control to kiss her back, relishing in the way she tasted. The sensation completely fried his brain, and Oliver began working on instinct. Oliver would, much later, try to convince himself that was why it took him so long to realise that Kara had almost finished unbuttoning his shirt.

Snapping back a little focus, Oliver gently took her hands in his own, holding them up to his chest while pulling back from her a little.

"Uhh, slow down…" His words came a little more breathless than he had hoped. Letting go of Kara's hands, Oliver took her shoulders so he could look into her eyes easier. "Your pupils are dilated! You're not…"

Kara had quite clearly grown impatient of Oliver's excuses and finally broke out her super-strength, tearing the shirt from his torso. Oliver was more than a little taken aback by the action, yet at the same time found himself all the more attracted to her for it.

"Come on, Oliver; don't turn into a good guy on me now."

Her words made something in him snap, Oliver had been fighting the attraction for long enough, didn't he deserve to just give in every now and then? With an unexpected passion, Oliver captured her lips with his own, and Kara, who was definitely levitating now, began to lightly tug them both toward what Oliver hoped was the bedroom.

 _XXX_

 _ **3 Months Earlier – Earth-1**_

"What about you Oliver?" Diggle asked with a smile. "I know you've got City Hall and all, but…"

"Yeah it keeps me busy but I…I need to buy some socks." The amused and bewildered looks of his friends almost brought a smile to his lips. "Everybody has their thing, I need socks, bad."

The round of laughter that came from the group then finally brought out his smile, Oliver knew he had every right to celebrate and he was going to enjoy it. Adrian Chase was safely behind bars, in A.R.G.U.S. custody where he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone, and the city was safe, it felt good. Sure, Black Siren was still out there, Evelyn was bound to turn up eventually and Talia would undoubtedly be out for revenge now Chase had failed but, for now, they had peace, and peace felt good.

Oliver's smile widened as he looked around the room, all these people who had been brought together by his crusade. Felicity and John - his two oldest allies and most trusted advisors, Thea – his baby sister and, as it turned out, political genius, Quentin – his once enemy and now right-hand-man as mayor, and finally Curtis, Dinah and Rene – the new recruits and yet just as much a part of the family. To think that this had all begun with his father's notebook and a bow provided by Talia al Ghul, in that dark and damp foundry, when Oliver himself had just been a man full of hate and rage, was almost inconceivable.

Oliver Queen was happy. Which meant, by a fundamental law of physics as agreed throughout the multiverse, karma was about to mess something up…big time.

 _XXX_

 _ **Meanwhile – Earth-38**_

"No, Alex, this is the right thing to do." Kara sighed.

For the last 10 minutes, she'd been locked in a seemingly unwinnable argument with Alex and J'onn about her decision, and she was getting tired. If, for a moment, she was being totally honest, Kara would admit that her mind had been made up from the moment she stepped into the D.E.O. so regardless of what the other two said her plan was not going to change.

"Kara, we can handle this, we don't have to go jumping across the multiverse begging for help." Alex shot back.

"Alex is right, Kara." J'onn's voice cut through the brief silence that had befallen them. "I've got our best people on this."

"Then your best people aren't good enough J'onn." Kara bit out, albeit a little angrier than she had intended. "And I wouldn't be begging for help, these people are my friends."

The looks that Alex and J'onn were giving her confirmed that she was most definitely on the backfoot for this argument. Kara was a little confused as to why they were both so strongly against her plan, it was a pretty good one after all. When Cisco had given her the breech device after the Dominator invasion it had been to call for help if she ever needed it, and this definitely qualified.

Then again; friends might have been a strong word to describe Oliver and his team. She was friends with Barry, definitely, and she and Oliver had shared…a moment…before they'd gone their separate ways, but describing Oliver as a friend might have been a little bit of a leap. Not that Kara was concerned about that, she knew that, if she asked, Oliver would be there to help her. After all, that was what heroes did, they helped people.

"My mind is already made up." Kara said a little more assertively. "We need help and this is the best way to get it."

"Kara…" Alex tried but she was swiftly cut off.

"Alex, this is Jerimiah we're talking about, if there's any chance we can get to him sooner we need to take it. I don't get why you're so against this."

When her sister responded only with an exasperated sigh, Kara gave in. Turning on her heel, Kara took to the skies and returned home, heading straight to the drawer where she'd hidden the breech device.

 _XXX_

 _ **Earth-1**_

"Whatever," Thea laughed. "Nothing will ever beat you and Tommy filling Malcom's pool with beer."

The incredulous looks Oliver received from the recruits at that only made him laugh louder, he sometimes forgot they had no idea of what he'd been like before the island. In the four hours they'd all been sat in Felicity's apartment, the whole group had managed to consume a little too much alcohol, not that they were drunk, but it definitely wasn't safe to drive. Quentin had decided to take his leave when they'd broke the third bottle of champagne open, knowing that he wouldn't want to be around to see the group get wasted.

Oliver himself was still on the safe side of sober, he'd picked up the crafty trick of drinking ginger ale and letting everyone assume it was champagne, though he couldn't quite remember where he'd got the idea from in the first place. Out of the group only Diggle was wise to the trick, he'd known about it since Oliver had begun using it nearly 5 years ago. As far as he'd been able to tell though, Diggle hadn't noticed he was doing it tonight.

"Wait, you filled a whole pool with beer?" Rene asked, astounded. "Damn, Hoss, that's cool."

"It wasn't exactly one of my finer moments," Oliver rolled his eyes. "But it was pretty awesome." He finished with a smirk.

The group exploded in another round of laughter at that, and Oliver had to shake his head a little at how comfortable he was around these people, it wasn't something he ever could have imagined for himself 5 years ago.

Before anyone could say another word, a faint pulsating sound rang out through the room as the air in the living space was torn apart. The whole group was on their feet before the breech had even finished forming, each of them prepared to handle whatever it was that came through. After a few moments, there was still no sign of movement from the breech, and it was putting the team even more on edge.

"What's the plan, boss?" It was Dinah who spoke up. "What'd we do if this thing isn't closing."

After examining the breech a little more intently than necessary for a moment, though why he did so he had no idea, Oliver turned and addressed the team.

"Felicity, get onto S.T.A.R. Labs, this stuff is their speciality. Curtis, get some tech set up in here, let's see if we can figure out where this thing leads. Everyone else, be on alert, we've got no idea what might come…"

Oliver's next question was answered before he could even finish asking it. The breech shifted a little and a blur of red and blue leapt from it, the breech snapping shut behind the blur. It took a moment for them all to realise that had just happened, but before them stood Kara Danvers, Supergirl.

"Hey guys," The blonde chirped. "How are you?"

With the whole group in a sort of stunned silence it was up to Oliver to speak.

"Kara? I…what're you doing here?"

For a moment, it looked as though Kara was about to reply, but her expression quickly changed as she took in the room and the decorations.

"Wait, it's your birthday?" She asked, meeting Oliver's eyes.

"Well…yeah." Oliver answered, a little thrown by why she'd decided to bring that up. "Now, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you didn't hop the multiverse to drink champagne and celebrate with us. So, what can we do to help?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She'd asked to speak to him alone, that was the first thing that set Oliver a little on edge. The simple fact that Supergirl needed _his_ help aided to that concern. After Kara had greeted everyone in her natural, yet seemingly all-too bubbly, way, she and Oliver had left the others to talk in private; which was why they were both now stood on the roof, away from prying ears.

Night-time in Star City was something Oliver been slowly losing his appreciation for ever since his return home. While it may have looked tranquil from above, he knew full well the sickness that was embedded so deeply within the city, that took away a lot of the glamour. There were hardly any stars in the sky either, he supposed that it was natural with a city as large as his own, and that was one of the very few things Oliver missed about the island. The night sky had been something peaceful when he'd been on Lian Yu, simple, there was almost a lucid purity about it that Oliver had never seen before or since.

Snapping out of his reverie, Oliver looked across at Kara, who was currently looking anywhere but at him and tapping her foot nervously. It was pretty clear to him that Kara was still…maybe intimidated wasn't the right word for it. Oliver knew full well that Kara could snap him like a tooth pick if she wanted too and there was very little he could do to stop her, but he hadn't exactly been welcoming last time they'd met.

"So," Oliver began after another few seconds of silence. "I'm guessing you're here because you need my help."

Kara only nodded in response.

"And it's with something that Barry and his team over in Central City can't help you with." He continued slowly.

She nodded again.

Oliver wasn't sure what to say next, he could hardly offer his help if Kara didn't tell him what it was she needed him for.

After a few more moments of the uncomfortable silence settling back in Kara spoke. "I need your help…it's about my father."

That struck a chord with him, if anyone had experience dealing with issues around their father it was Oliver. Internally, Oliver had already agreed to help her, a part of him immediately trying to protect Kara from going through what he did. When that thought crossed his mind, Oliver had to pause for a moment. He would do this for anyone, wasn't that the point? Protecting people from having to suffer that way he did? So, why had his subconscious so explicitly said he wanted to protect Kara?

"What about him?" Oliver asked, regaining his composure.

"Well he's my adoptive father actually but…nearly 15 years ago he went on a mission for the D.E.O. and never came home, we thought…everyone thought…he was dead." Oliver tried to remain neutral as Kara spoke but that was a pain he knew all too well. "A few weeks back I was taken by this group called Cadmus and it was my father who rescued me."

That was a lot to process. Not only had Kara been forced to believe her father was dead, but then to find out he'd actually been alive the whole time and working for some terrorist group that had kidnapped her. For the first time in 10 years Oliver was convinced that there was someone who actually had a life that was more complicated than his own. The name Cadmus sounded familiar too, he was sure of it, it'd had definitely come up at some point. He'd have to get Felicity to run a check for anything bearing that name soon, just to be safe.

"So…your father's alive and working for this Cadmus?" Oliver asked, still processing internally.

"He's not working for them." Kara snapped a moment later, squaring up to Oliver a little. "He's as much their victim as any of the aliens they've hurt."

Right. Aliens. The things that were actually totally common on Kara's version of Earth. That was still something Oliver struggled to get his head around, he could handle Mirakuru soldiers, magic, men who were fast enough to run on water, but he drew the line at aliens. He finally understood what Diggle felt whenever Barry used his speed around him.

"They've kept him there for 15 years, Oliver, and if I know Cadmus they've done all kinds of horrible things it him," Kara had moved a lot closer to Oliver as she had spoken, close enough for him to see the heartbreak in her eyes despite the lack of light on the roof. "I need you to help me save him."

"Why me?" Oliver asked. "You're the invulnerable one."

"They're ready for me. Cadmus had been studying aliens for years, they know everything I can do, and they've got the one thing that can actually stop me. It's called kryptonite, and they've been stockpiling the stuff. It leeches my powers, it could probably kill me if I was exposed to it for too long."

Oliver was a little impressed by how easily Kara shared her weaknesses, years of having to survive by any means necessary had taught Oliver to play that particular card _very_ close to his chest.

 _Never let them see you bleed_.

Kara's revelation might have been a little more impressive if he hadn't already known about kryptonite though. So maybe after everything that had happened with the Dominators Oliver had coerced Cisco into an expedition to Earth-38 to learn more about Kryptonians, and maybe that had led to Cisco building Oliver a handful of kryptonite arrows and red solar grenades…just in case.

"What about Barry and his team?" Oliver suggested. "They've all got powers and they're immune to kryptonite."

"We have aliens with all of their powers on my Earth and Cadmus is ready for them all. They never stay in one place long but their facilities are like fortresses, any super-powers are pretty much useless inside them."

Oliver had a pretty good idea where this was going, but he wasn't going to make assumptions, if Kara wanted his help all she had to do was ask him.

"And this involves me how?" Oliver spoke, turning his head a little to meet Kara's eyes and, clearly, she saw both the confusion and interest in his own.

"You're human." Kara stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, and Oliver tried his best not to be a little offended by her tone of voice when she spoke. "Cadmus has spent so much time defending themselves against aliens that they couldn't conceive a human being brave enough to take them on."

Oliver had to admit that Kara had a point, he'd even accept that implied compliment, that he was brave enough to take on a shady group of anti-alien terrorists armed just with his bow and his wits.

"I know it's a lot to ask, I know I'm asking you to leave your home for a while and travel to an entirely different world just to help me…and I know we don't even know each other that well but…"

"Okay." Oliver cut over her ramble, Kara really did remind him of Felicity sometimes.

"I…" Kara looked up at him, her eyes wide and a beaming smile on her face. "Really?"

"Yes." Oliver chuckled a little at her surprise. "Of course, I'll help you."

"Thank you." Kara practically shouted.

Before Oliver could register it, Kara had super-speeded herself through what little distance remained between them and wrapped him in a bone crushing hug. Oliver was not an enthusiastic fan of hugs, and everyone who knew him, knew that fact. Kara quite clearly both oblivious to that fact, and a lover of hugs. If Oliver didn't know any better, he'd probably be convinced Kara had just broken at least one of his ribs.

 _XXX_

"You're kidding." Felicity deadpanned, giving him an incredulous look.

Oliver had gathered the team, plus Quentin and Thea at The Bunker to explain the situation to them. After his conversation with Kara the night before, Oliver had begun making plans to get himself at least two weeks on Earth-38 to help Kara and her friends. Thea was the only person who was already aware of his plans, and had managed to come up with the idea of convincing the city council that he was going on a spiritual cleanse in the Himalayas, which had somehow worked.

Other than that, Oliver only had to worry about the team, and, if he was being honest, he wasn't worried at all. Diggle was perfectly capable of leading the recruits, Oliver had no doubts there, and the team worked together more than well enough to hold their own without him for a while. Plus, it wasn't even as though he were that far away. Cisco had provided him with a replica of the breech device he'd made for Kara, so the team would be able to come and get him anytime they needed to.

"Kara needs my help, we still owe her for helping us when the Dominators attacked." Oliver answered, even though that was far from his main reason for helping.

"So, buy her a bottle of champagne," Felicity quickly shot back. "You have responsibilities here."

Oliver rolled his left fist a little, clenching it in search of a bow that was not there. That had become a habit in the last few years, Oliver felt far more in control when he had his bow in his hand, so it had become a reflex to search for it whenever he was stressed.

"You and Digg are perfectly capable of keeping the team together," A quick glance at his former bodyguard was greeted with a curt nod, confirming that fact. "And Thea had manged to buy me at least two weeks away from city hall, she and Quentin can keep on top of things there."

"And what if we need the Green Arrow? You can't just walk out on us…" The blonde continued to argue.

"I've left before, and things were fine." Oliver answered, ignoring the pointed look Felicity gave him while pulling the breech device from his pocket, then holding it up to display to the team. "But, if something does happen, then, you've got this. All you've got to do is push the button and it'll open a breech to Earth-38 so you can come get me."

"Okay. I guess you've already made up your mind, I'm done trying to change it." Felicity resigned with an unreadable expression. "Good luck."

With that the blonde got to her feet and walked out, not glancing back to look at Oliver or the team. The rest of the group wished Oliver luck one-by-one and slowly filtered out until it was just Oliver and Diggle left in The Bunker. With a sigh, Oliver placed the breech device on the desk and sunk into one of the chairs at the computer bank.

"So," Diggle began, taking a seat on the desk next to Oliver. "You're going dimension hopping to save another world. When did this become our lives?"

"Aliens, John." Oliver let out a sarcastic laugh. "They've got an entire world where aliens are just…everywhere. I thought meta-humans and magic were about as crazy as things could get."

"Oliver, I accepted a long time ago that this life we lead is just going to keep getting crazier, every time something weird happens I just end up preparing myself with the knowledge that there's always going to be something to follow it, and that 'thing' is almost always even weirder." John smiled at him.

Oliver didn't reply straight away, his attention getting pulled towards the exit to The Bunker, his thoughts turning to Felicity. He couldn't place why she had been so upset at his plans, he was going to help a friend for a week or two, he wasn't planning on moving to Earth-38 permanently.

"She'll come around." John spoke up, knowing all too well what Oliver was thinking about. "She just needs time to process this, not that bringing up Ivy Town helped much."

"I was making a point John, but it's hardly the same thing," Oliver began quickly. "When Felicity and I moved to Ivy Town, it was to get away from this life, to settle down. I'm doing this now because Kara needs me."

"But you've gotta see what this looks like for her, man. You compared this 'work trip' to that life you had with her, it's gotta be hard to hear." John smiled softly.

With a smile now touching at his lips, Oliver turned to face John. "And why are you so sagely and calm about me leaving?"

"Because you deserve this, some time away from this city…from the darkness. After everything that happened with Chase it'll be good for you to get away." Diggle answered, before quickly adding. "And I think Kara will be good for you too."

"What? John, I…"

"Oliver, that girl is literally and figuratively a bundle of sunlight. Spending some time around someone who is that pure of heart could do you a few favours, especially with what's happened over the last few weeks."

Oliver wanted to argue, but he knew that was futile. Not only because Diggle had clearly already made his mind up about that fact but also because Oliver agreed with him.

Kara was…good.

 _XXX_

Kara could hardly contain herself as she flew back to Star City to meet Oliver. After their conversation on the roof the previous night, Oliver had offered for her to stay at his place for the night while he made his travel arrangements. She'd politely declined and set out for Central City, planning on spending the night at S.T.A.R. Labs with Barry and Team Flash.

She'd been able to flex her muscles a little and help Barry stop a bank robbery and a few other minor crimes. Almost disappointingly there were no meta-humans involved and the weaponry on Earth-1 was nowhere near as advanced as the stuff criminals on her world had access to, so it had almost been too easy for the two of them to stop what little crime had been happening.

So, 22 hours and 17 minutes after her conversation with Oliver (not that she had been counting) Barry had passed on the message that he was ready to head to Earth-38. In her excitement, Kara had almost manged to forget to say good-bye to everyone.

Coming to a stop at the address she had been given by Barry, Kara took a brief look at the fairly non-descript building that she assumed contained Oliver's base of operations. Not that she needed to assume, she could see it with her x-ray vision, a fairly large complex under the building. It was impressive, the tech inside would almost give the D.E.O. a run for their money. Then she spotted Oliver, stood in the middle of what looked to be the control room, hands clasped meaningfully behind his back as he studied something on one of the computer screens.

Courtesy of her powers, Kara quickly found the elevator and began the decent to Oliver's base. As the doors opened and she took in The Bunker for the first time, she had to admit; it may not have been as advanced as the D.E.O. but it had a whole lot more style. As she entered the room, Oliver (who was clad in a mask/hoodless Green Arrow suit) hadn't turned to acknowledge her arrival, still studying the data on the computer, which she now realised was a file about what little they knew of Earth-38.

"Evening, Kara." Oliver spoke without turning around, she'd clearly been lingering in the doorway too long.

With the smile returning to her face, Kara bounded up the stairs to Oliver, who had finally turned around.

"You ready to go?"

"Almost." Oliver began, turning back to the computer and closing the file.

That was when Kara noticed the duffle bag that sat on the chair beside Oliver, a quick x-ray revealed a handful of clothes, a few notepads and pencils, and a veritable arsenal of arrows and…

"Is that an actual bar of gold?!" Kara gasped, after realising what she had seen.

The scolding look Oliver gave her told him that he really didn't appreciate her using her powers to check out his belongings, and that brought Kara closer to fear than she'd felt for a long time. That gave her a new appreciation of why criminals were so afraid of the Green Arrow. After a moment or two, Oliver's expression softened a little, he must have been able to read people a lot better than Kara had first thought.

"I figured that I wouldn't be able to use my credit cards on your Earth, so I had John get me something that I'd be able to exchange on your Earth." Oliver stated, and Kara couldn't refute the logic.

"And how much is that worth?" She questioned, glancing suspiciously at the bag.

"I think somewhere around $25,000." Oliver shrugged, as he picked up the bag and hung it over his shoulder.

Kara had no words for how calm Oliver was about carrying around that much money, but, she supposed, he hardly had to worry about getting robbed. Taking the breech device from her pocket, Kara watched as Oliver grabbed his bow with his free hand, and at how much more relaxed he seemed for it.

"Let's do it." Kara smiled, pressing the button.

The two watched as the breech opened before them, Kara motioning for Oliver to go first.

 _XXX_

 _ **Earth-38**_

Jumping through breeches was always an uncomfortable experience as far as Oliver was concerned, it felt strange, like every molecule in his body froze for just a moment before he came out on the other side. This time, the other side was far less welcoming than Oliver had been expecting.

He'd stepped out of the breech into a facility that reminded him a lot of A.R.G.U.S. but the most discernible difference was the 6…make that 7 armed guards aiming guns at him. In one swift movement, Oliver had dropped the duffle bag from his shoulder and nocked an arrow, waiting for someone to make the first move.

The breech was still open, so he could dive back through it, but they'd likely open fire as soon as he moved, plus they'd be able to follow him even if they didn't. He could win this fight if he had to, 7 government agents wouldn't be too difficult to take down, though he would probably take a few hits too.

While Oliver was weighing up his options one of the agents, a woman with short brunette hair stepped forward, gun still squarely aimed at his chest.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?"

Oliver chose not to answer, instead, turning his head just enough that he could glance over his shoulder at the breech, waiting for any sign of Kara's arrival. He didn't want to start a fight, Oliver knew better than to shoot first and ask questions later. More time passed, it couldn't have been more than a few seconds but in that standoff, it felt like an eternity. Then, the breech shifted and through it, leapt Kara, the gateway snapping shut behind her.

"Kara," Oliver bit out through gritted teeth. "Where the hell are…"

"Alex!" Kara shouted, speeding past him and into the arms of the brunette who'd tried to question him.

"Supergirl," The brunette, Alex, spoke. "I was worried, you didn't say how long you'd be gone for and just disappeared."

"You sound just like mom." Kara answered, separating herself from Alex.

 _Mom?_ Oliver thought to himself. Then his mind made the connection, if it was Kara's adoptive father he was here to help rescue, then Alex must have been the adoptive sister Kara had mentioned.

"Kara." Oliver spoke again, his voice low and laden with threat. "Would you mind telling these people to put their guns down." Oliver articulated those last two words heavily, and he saw the reaction that got from a number of the agents.

"It's okay everyone, he's a friend of mine, you can put the guns down." Kara announced, keeping up her excitable tone.

The agents swiftly holstered their weapons and went about doing whatever it was they'd been doing before Oliver's arrival. Watching the room carefully, Oliver made sure that no one else was aiming a weapon at him before he relaxed his bow, placing the arrow back in his quiver. He, Kara and Alex had been left alone in the centre of the room, but various agents were still throwing them odd glances. Clearly, they didn't trust Oliver.

Going by the look Kara's adoptive sister was giving him, that trust was not going to be easy to win.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So I wasn't planning on writing this for a while but with the support that this story got I just had to keep working. Thanks again to my Beta Nightwing Panther 2017 without whom this would not be possible.**

 **If you enjoyed please drop a comment, it always means the world to know that people are enjoying this, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Author's Note: To explain why Kara and the rest of the ensemble from Earth-38 act the way they do in this, I just want to point out where I took this story on the AU track. So, in this universe, at the end of 2x12 (Luthors) Kara doesn't call Mon-El and instead goes to get Oliver from Earth-1. My reasons for this will make more sense as we go on…I hope.**

 **To the guest who asked about the title, you are reading into it a little too much. The title of this fic comes from the love song of the same name by Frank Sinatra, it happened to come up on my playlist while I was writing the first chapter and it seemed pretty appropriate. I'd recommend giving the song a listen if that's your genre!**

* * *

"So, you're the help that we don't need?"

Oliver's attention snapped back to Alex when she spoke. He'd been taking in the room around from the moment the agents had stepped away, despite the lack of armed weapons aimed at his chest Oliver still wasn't relaxed. So, he'd mapped the room; chosen the most defendable area, counted all the agents, counted all the exits, and calculated the amount of time it would take to make a quick escape if he needed to.

"I'm here because Kara asked me." Oliver responded, knowing full-well that he hadn't actually answered her question.

He had to fight the grin that tugged on the corners of his mouth at Alex's response, she definitely didn't like him. So, maybe Oliver was pushing her a little, but he was always curious to know the limits of the people in his environment. If he was to stay here for two weeks, Oliver would undoubtedly need to get Kara's sister on his side, particularly being as it was _her_ father he was there to save.

Giving him a pointed look, Alex turned back to face her sister. "Kara, you can't just bring strangers into the D.E.O. We could've hurt him."

That time, Oliver failed to supress his grin. In the minute that he'd been in that standoff with the agents, he'd planned several ways to take them all out, each with varying levels of lethality. The idea that Kara's sister could actually hurt him was downright laughable. Unfortunately, Alex Danvers was perhaps a little more talented than Oliver had given her credit for, she'd clearly noticed his grin in the corner of her eye.

"Something funny, Robin Hood?" Alex spoke, the irritation a little too obvious in her voice.

Oliver almost wanted to fight her, he knew it wouldn't take much more to bait Alex into agreeing to spar, and if he pushed the right buttons Oliver was pretty sure he could get her to take a swing at him right where they stood. Expect, going by the look Kara was giving him over Alex's shoulder, that wouldn't end well for him, especially if he won. He'd have to swallow his pride…for now.

"Not at all, Alex." Oliver spoke, carefully emphasising the use of her name.

By the way Alex squared up to him a little more at that, Oliver realised he might have misjudged just how much she disliked him.

"That's Agent Danvers to you."

Looking to Kara over Alex's shoulder, Oliver, who found himself fighting a smile, raised his eyebrows at her. The communication worked, the blonde simply shrugging at him in defeat, seemingly knowing that she couldn't avoid the confrontation. Now unable to push his grin down, Oliver matched Alex's position, the two of them practically butting heads.

"Agent Danvers!" A voice rang out through the room, and Alex immediately stepped away from Oliver.

Oliver turned his head just in time to see the voice's owner reaching the trio, a scowl plastered across his features. It didn't take too much of a leap for Oliver to guess that this was Alex's boss.

"Oliver Queen, meet J'onn J'onzz." Kara began, taking a few steps towards the two men. "Director of the D.E.O."

"Mr. Queen." J'onn spoke, extending a hand.

"J'onzz?" Oliver began, shaking J'onn's hand. "That's…"

"Martian." Alex cut over him with a grin.

Martian.

The guy in charge of the covert government division dedicated to fighting alien threats was a Martian. That information took Oliver a moment to file away under ' _stress about later'_ , he really was going to have to get used to the fact that he was going to meet a lot of aliens during his stay.

"So, you're the friend from Earth-1 that Kara thinks can help us?" J'onn continued, having either not noticed Oliver's hesitation or choosing to ignore it. Oliver hoped it was the former.

"Kara thinks that I can give your team an edge to take on Cadmus. If this group is so dedicated to wiping out aliens then they won't be expecting a human to be the one to go to war against them."

It was a solid answer, Oliver himself now believed it. He'd been sceptical at first, of course he had. Kara's version of Earth had weapons and technologies that were beyond anything his world was capable of, going up against people with that kind of power was an intimidating thought. Then, Oliver had realised that Kara was right. All that power and technology was designed to take out aliens, what were the odds any of it would actually work on him?

And if they were stupid enough to pull good, old-fashioned guns on him? Then more fool them, that was Oliver's home ground.

When Oliver looked back to J'onn, it was clear that the man was satisfied by his answer, even if he wasn't entirely convinced that it was a promising idea. Oliver couldn't blame him; every time Barry turned up with some new meta-human, claiming that they would help defeat whatever that week's major threat was, Oliver was sceptical. Until he proved himself, these people would be pretty damned difficult to work with.

"Okay," Came J'onn's carefully measured answer. "Agent Danvers?"

The two men turned their heads to look at the sisters. While Kara was still smiling, almost looking proud at the way Oliver handled himself with J'onn, Alex looked even more aggravated than she did earlier. Making a point of ignoring both Oliver and J'onn, Alex turned to her sister.

"Kara, we need to talk. Alone." With that, the brunette marched off with Kara in tow, the blonde simply throwing Oliver an apologetic look over her shoulder.

When the sister had disappeared from sight, Oliver turned back to the Martian.

"J'onn, if it's not too much to ask I'd like a secure place to store some of my equipment, and someone to explain to me how things work around here."

For a moment, J'onn seemed to ponder Oliver's request, before a faint grin came over his lips. "I've got just the man for you, Mr. Queen. Agent Schott!"

 _XXX_

So, introducing Oliver to her team hadn't gone exactly as Kara had planned. To be perfectly honest, Kara hadn't even considered the possibility that the D.E.O. would've been on such high alert, the standoff between Oliver and her sister hadn't exactly been the welcoming greeting party Kara had hoped for.

At least J'onn seemed convinced by Oliver motives, at least that would make things easier for the two of them whenever they needed help from the D.E.O. It was just a little disappointing that Alex seemed to be so stubbornly against accepting Oliver's help.

Speaking of which, Kara's attention was pulled back to her sister at the sound of the door to the training room snapping shut. The brunette looked…Kara thought that angry didn't quite cover it, insulted maybe?

"Kara, what are you thinking? Who is that guy?" Alex spoke quickly, pacing toward Kara as she did.

"I told you about him before," Kara began. "He's the Green Arrow, he's a hero from Barry's Earth."

"He's a civilian." Alex stated bluntly. "A civilian, with a hood and a bow, and you're going to get him killed."

For someone so used to being invulnerable, Kara really felt the sting of those words. She knew it wasn't true, she'd seen the way the Oliver handled himself during the Dominator attack, he would definitely be able to hold his own. The fact that Alex didn't trust her judgment hurt though, she knew Alex hadn't said what she did just to be cruel she was…well, Kara didn't actually know why Alex had been in such a bad mood, but she was going to find out.

"No, he won't, Alex." Kara retorted after a moment. "You haven't seen his world, what's it like. Where Oliver is from people are heroes because they had these incredible gifts given to them, and they wanted to use them for good. Oliver isn't like them, he doesn't have any powers, but he would still go 10 rounds against General Zod if he thought he could save someone's life."

Going by the look on Alex's face, Kara had surprised her with that defence of Oliver. If she was being honest, Kara had surprised herself too. She had no idea where it had come from, she didn't even know Oliver that well and yet she was ready to argue with her sister just to defend his status as a hero?

After a few moments of stunned silence, Alex spoke. "Are you sure you can trust him?"

"Yes." Kara answered with as much confidence as she could muster. "Look, Alex, you're my sister, and I love you, but you need to give Oliver a chance. Just give him a shot to prove himself."

"Fine." Alex responded quickly. "He gets one shot."

Kara practically lit up at that, her smile quickly overtaking her features again. She knew that Oliver would only need that one chance to prove himself to her; he was, after all, that good. Which meant that they had Alex on side. As much as going toe-to-toe with Cadmus was Kara's problem, she knew just how much of a stake Alex had in it all, and Kara truly believed that Oliver was their best chance to take them down.

"Thank you!" Kara all but shouted, pulling her sister into a tight hug.

Alex quickly returned her sister's embrace. "If he screws this up I'll end him."

Separating the two with a laugh, Kara met Alex's eyes. "I wouldn't be too sure you could, Oliver is pretty stubborn."

"Well, I think you'll find…"

Before Alex could finish the sound of an alarm rang out. After a brief glance at each other, the two sisters headed for the door, heading quickly back to the control room. As they walked in, Kara saw J'onn, Oliver and Winn stood around the central monitor, Winn typing something into his tablet.

"What've we got?" Kara asked as she reached the trio.

"Bank robbery. Guess 24 hours without a Supergirl sighting has given these guys some false confidence." Winn answered without looking up.

"Alright, time to go remind them that Supergirl is still here." Kara spoke.

As she turned to head out, Kara felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning her head, Kara saw Oliver, a determined, yet somewhat smug, grin on his face. Before he even spoke Kara knew what he wanted to do, and she felt a small surge of pride for him at that.

"I'll handle it." Oliver announced, more to the rest of the room than Kara, clearly having seen the recognition in her eyes.

With a small nod of agreement from her, Oliver dropped his arm from Kara's shoulder and started walking towards the wall-sized window at the far end of the room. With confidence, and a purpose in his step, Oliver pulled on his hood and mask without a glance back to Kara or the others. As the glass doors slid open before him Oliver stepped out into the night and pulled an arrow from his quiver, drawing back his bow.

"Mr. Queen." J'onn's voice rang out. "You are not authorised to operate in my city."

Oliver turned his head to look at J'onn, a grin on his lips.

"I'm a vigilante, J'onn, not a hero. Try and stop me."

Without another word, Oliver leapt from the balcony, disappearing from sight.

 _XXX_

Winn had talked Oliver in as soon as he'd hit the streets as Green Arrow, and he had to admit; it was insanely cool. Working with James when he was out on patrol as Guardian was a thrill, but working with Oliver was something else entirely.

Just on meeting him Winn had nearly freaked out. Kara had told him a little bit about Oliver after her field-trip to Earth-1 to fight The Dominators, and Winn had proceeded to grill Kara for every single detail he could about the Emerald Archer, it was useful to have a point of reference for his vigilante exploits with James. So, meeting Oliver had been pretty damn cool, especially when J'onn had asked Winn to show him around the D.E.O.

Winn had barely had a chance to introduce himself before the alarm had gone off, and the moment it did Oliver had subtly asked him for a comms device, a request to which Winn quickly accented. He was seriously looking forward to being tech support for Green Arrow in the field.

In fact, Winn had all-but been reduced to a glorified Sat-Nav for Oliver, and that was only because he was yet to learn his way around National City. As soon as he'd entered the bank Oliver had gone silent, and Winn had just sat and watched him on the security cameras. Unlike Guardian, The Green Arrow didn't need any assistance in a fight. It was as though he had a sixth-sense, even when he had his back turned to an opponent, Oliver still seemed to know exactly where they were.

Still, watching The Green Arrow taking down a whole group of armed bank robbers over CCTV was awesome.

 _XXX_

J'onn had very nearly gone after Oliver Queen when he'd jumped from the balcony at the D.E.O., but Kara had insisted they trust him. He'd felt pretty damn uneasy about the whole thing, and was on edge the whole time they were stood waiting for The Green Arrow to reach the bank. While he didn't have a problem having Oliver around in an advisory capacity for the whole Cadmus situation, letting a rogue vigilante operate in National City was unnerving to say the least, even with Kara's vote of confidence.

Then again, if anything did go wrong J'onn knew that Supergirl could be at the bank in a few seconds.

Winn had tapped into the banks security cameras, and needless to say; J'onn was impressed.

Despite Kara's insistence that Oliver Queen knew what he was doing, J'onn hadn't been wholly convinced that he could handle himself out in the field. The footage from the cameras at the bank had completely proved him wrong.

For a human, Oliver Queen was pretty impressive.

He handled himself differently to the way J'onn had seen most people fight, sticking to the shadows, only emerging when it suited him. His style said a lot about how he was trained, and the way he operated, there was a reason The Green Arrow was considered a vigilante on his world.

If J'onn had sent Supergirl to that bank, the men would have been sent to jail with a handful of bruises and maybe a bad concussion or two, with Oliver though… The bank robbers were going to have to be sent to the hospital before the NCPD could arrest them. Instead of just binding them as Guardian did, Green Arrow opted to completely immobilise the robbers, they were going to be left with some serious injuries.

That made J'onn pause for thought. He didn't have a huge moral objection to what Oliver was doing, his problem was that it was illegal and J'onn liked to do his best to operate within the parameters of the law. Kara though…J'onn knew that she was going to struggle to reconcile Oliver's behaviour with the man she seemed to think he was.

 _XXX_

Kara had bubbled with excitement as Oliver swung from the balcony of the D.E.O. and out into the night of National City. She could tell how apprehensive are sister and J'onn were, even if Kara wasn't as talented at reading people as Oliver was, the looks they'd both given her were hardly subtle. She'd felt an impressive pride for Winn, who had somehow managed to direct Oliver without freaking out as he'd done with Clark, so that was good.

Other than his very brief interaction with Winn, Oliver had been all-but silent over the comms, it said a lot about him. He was…Kara hesitated to say better, but Oliver most certainly beat all of her team on the experience level. Barry had managed to fill her in on some of the details of Oliver's journey, but the speedster hadn't known many of the detail himself, apparently Oliver was pretty closed off about his time before becoming the Green Arrow.

Kara hoped she could change that.

Seeing him in action at the bank had been different, almost painfully so. When they'd fought the Dominators, Kara had understood Oliver's aggressive tactics, he was fighting aliens and, after all, his whole planet was at risk. When he'd fought the robbers at the bank though, Oliver had used the exact same level of force. That was something Kara couldn't understand.

Clearly, Oliver knew what he was doing, he could've taken those criminals out with minimal force, a few careful blows and they'd been unconscious without them even realising he was there. Instead, he'd chosen to hit them with near-lethal attacks, making sure that they'd need a visit to A&E before they were on their feet again.

As soon as Kara had seen him handle the first robber, one arrow to the deltoid and another to the vastus medialis, she'd wanted to stop him. Except, Kara couldn't move. She'd been frozen in shock, especially when he continued to make his way through the group of armed robbers, employing the same brutal tactics as he did. Once he'd dropped the last robber, and Winn had made the call to NCPD that the bank was secure, Kara was sure of only one thing:

Oliver Queen was not the man she thought he was.

 _XXX_

Oliver was feeling pretty good as he made his way back to the D.E.O. building. A bank robbery had been exactly what he'd needed to work out the considerable stress he had managed to accumulate in the short amount of time he had spent on Kara's world. The journey back was taking much longer than it should have done though.

There was something tranquil about National City, something that Oliver couldn't quite place but it was most definitely there. The place reminded him of Star City, but with a sense of purity that had long been lacking from his home. The sky was different too, somehow clearer despite the city being as large and as busy as his own. He really was on a different planet.

So, Oliver had chosen to slowly make his way along the rooftops as opposed to zipping across the city on his grapple as he had done the first time. He'd also switched his comms device off after announcing that he was about to make his return, so there had been a real chance to take in the city. Despite his desire to enjoy the city a little longer, Oliver knew he needed to return to the D.E.O. and so, put a little more spring in his step, changing his course for a more direct one.

It took him just shy of 5 minutes to make it back to the D.E.O., and Oliver couldn't help but question the choice of placing the headquarters for a covert branch of the government in the middle of such a highly populated city. At least A.R.G.U.S. had the subtlety to place their central building outside the city limits.

Jumping back onto the balcony, Oliver rolled his shoulders, taking a moment to compose himself before stepping inside. As he entered the building, the large glass window sliding open to allow him access, Oliver was greeted by a clearly irate Kara. The blonde looked furious, there was red in her cheeks, a scowl across her features, her arms crossed over her chest and she stood a little taller than usual.

Oliver was in for it.

"What the hell was that?" Kara fumed, crossing the short distance between herself and Oliver in a few short strides.

"That was me doing my job, Kara." Oliver shot back quickly, pulling off his hood and mask with his free hand as he did.

"Your job? You didn't just stop those men, you hospitalised them!"

"We're not all bulletproof. When I'm in the field, if I put someone down I need to know they stay down. Unlike you, I can't risk them getting back up in putting a few rounds in my back."

"You could've killed them! You…"

"So what if I had? I've killed before, Kara, plenty of times. This life makes it necessary."

Her words had pushed Oliver over the edge, he'd been biting his tongue a little, he was on Kara's world after all. But, in the end, she had been the one to ask for his help, that was what his help looked like, and if Kara didn't like it then she could send him back to his own world.

She looked completely stunned at that, Oliver's outburst had not only affected Kara but had grabbed the attention of most of the room. To their credit, the agents were trying to be professional but the clear majority were staring at them in awe.

Oliver felt his own features fall a little as he took in Kara's reaction. The worst part was, Oliver wasn't even sure if he believed what he said himself, not anymore. After everything that had happened with Prometheus, the things he'd learnt about himself, what Felicity had said to him when they were trapped in The Bunker…Oliver knew he had changed. He had been so sure that he'd been justified every time he'd killed before, Darhk especially, but something about the way Kara was looking at him was making him doubt that more than Chase had ever been able to.

His left-hand tightening around his bow, Oliver took a tentative step towards Kara.

"Kara, I…"

"Save it, Oliver." Kara snapped, glaring at him. The faint blue fizzle in her eyes didn't escape Oliver's attention, she'd clearly moved from shock to anger.

Without another word, Kara pushed past him and walked to the balcony, taking to the skies the moment she was outside. With a sigh of defeat, Oliver felt the involuntary slump of his shoulders. He had seriously screwed this up.

 _XXX_

Kara had given up on anger the moment she'd made it back to her apartment and changed out of her Supergirl uniform.

She hadn't wanted to, not at all. Kara had wanted to stay angry at Oliver, at what he'd done, the way he'd acted, but she just couldn't. After seeing the way Green Arrow had handled the bank robbery, Kara had been stunned, Oliver had proved himself not to be the hero she'd expected. Then, to hear him defend murdering criminals, that had made Kara furious. She couldn't imagine that any part of Oliver thought the killing was ever an answer, but the way he'd said it, so sure and so angry, she'd believed him.

So, she'd stormed out. It had seemed like a better idea than throwing him off the roof of the D.E.O. building.

The short flight back to her home had been more than enough to settle Kara's anger. Flying had always been almost like meditation to her, it allowed Kara to reflect peacefully, without the noise and bustle of the city overwhelming her. Her thoughts were mostly of Oliver, about how little she knew of him, but most significantly about the small quantity of information Barry had given her on Oliver's past.

All that he'd been able to tell her was that Oliver had been in a shipwreck, and stranded on an island for five years while his family were forced to believe he had died, something Kara knew a little more about than she'd ever hoped to. Then, he'd returned home with his mission to become the hero his city needed, even if that wasn't how he saw himself.

Oliver Queen had been Earth-1's first superhero.

Kara couldn't begin to image what those five years must've done to him, the way that kind of suffering would have shaped him. If even a small piece of Oliver truly believed what he had said to her then it was because of what he had endured, and everything he'd lost since.

If anything, Kara had quickly come to blame herself for that argument. She had been the one to ask Oliver to her Earth, she was the one who insisted he go out in the field alone without them seeing how he fought, she was the one who was expecting Oliver to play by the rules of an entirely different world. That wasn't as fair to him as Kara had first thought.

Before Kara could continue to berate herself any further, a sharp rap at the door stole her attention. As wrapped up in her thoughts as she was, Kara didn't even think to x-ray vison the door to see who her guest was, instead just marching over and pulling the door open.

To her surprise, Kara was presented with an almost nervous looking Oliver Queen standing in her hallway, his Green Arrow suit swapped for civilian clothes.

"O…Oliver?" Kara stumbled, her shock getting the better of her.

"Hey, Kara." Oliver spoke gently.

Taking a step to one side, Kara motioned for him to enter, closing the door behind him as he did. As Kara turned around, the two came face-to-face, each looking as nervous as the other, neither entirely sure of what to say first.

"Was it Winn?" Kara suddenly blurted, on seeing the confused look on Oliver's face she continued. "That told you where I live?"

With a faint smile pulling at his lips Oliver answered. "Alex, believe it or not. Told me to apologise like I meant it or get put down."

Kara almost laughed at that, of course Alex had gone full-on big sister mode after her fight with Oliver. It was a nice feeling for Kara, knowing that Alex had opted to threaten Oliver into making things right with her, as opposed to just throwing him back through the breech to his Earth, it was Alex's way of showing she cared. With a smile now teasing against her lips at the image of Alex threatening Oliver, Kara took a few paces into the living space of her apartment, the faint sound of Oliver's footfalls following her.

"I'm sorry." Kara began as she turned to face Oliver. "I shouldn't have just stormed out like that."

"You've got nothing to apologise for, Kara." Oliver tried, but the Kryptonian continued as if she hadn't heard him.

"We're from different worlds, Oliver, and I'm pretty sure that's the first time that expression has been used literally. I just…I didn't think that the way things worked for you would be different to how they worked for me, it was stupid and it was selfish…"

"It was _human_." Oliver cut over her. "Kara, you wanted to believe that I was like you, like Barry…the truth is that I can't afford to be. I can't count on super-speed to get me out of trouble or impenetrable skin to save me from a bullet, when I'm out there as the Green Arrow I have to rely on my skill and my smarts to survive."

"But that wasn't just surviving, Oliver." Kara spoke, taking an unconscious step towards Oliver as she did. "I know you're better than that, you could have handle those guys without hurting them the way you did."

"I'm not." Oliver began softly. "Kara, you think I'm this…hero, you…"

There was something in his eyes when he spoke that Kara couldn't place, a kind of vulnerability that seemed so strange in someone as guarded as Oliver. It almost hurt Kara to see it, and in that moment, a small part of her swore that she would do whatever she could to help Oliver.

"Because you are a hero, Oliver. Maybe more so than the rest of us, because you don't have powers and you're still out there and taking the same risks as me or Barry would. You deserve to be called a hero."

Kara hadn't realised when it had happened, but somehow the two of them had completely closed whatever distance they'd had, and Kara had subconsciously taken Oliver's hands in her own. The two had clearly been so absorbed in the other's words that their bodies had been acting of their own accord. Oliver must've realised that at the same time as Kara, his eyes briefly glancing down to their hands before flicking up to meet Kara's again.

"Kara, I…"

Before Oliver could say another word, a powerful blue light was cast over them, the two jumping apart to look at the strange light that was now hovering over Kara's dining room. The light let out a sound, like light raindrops against glass, and began dancing around the room. The two heroes pan in circles for a few moments, following the light in confusion until it settled before one of the windows in the living space.

"Darling." A voice came from the light at it took a human form.

"Who the hell are you?" Kara asked incredulously at the man who was now stood in her home.

"My name is Mister Mxyzptlk." The stranger began as he took a step towards the duo. "And, Kara Zor-El, I love you.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

" _Kara Zor-El, I love you."_

Oliver and Kara both froze at the strange arrival, the two manging to share a completely stunned look for a brief moment before their, clearly alien, visitor drew their attention again. Rubbing his hands together to create the same blue light, Mxyzptlk started looking around the room, seemingly judging his environment.

"First, let's set the mood! Candles." With a snap of his fingers a blue light burst into the room and candles appeared throughout the room.

Oliver was, somehow, even more stunned. He'd seen magic before but the tricks Constantine and Darhk used paled in comparison to whatever force the stranger was harnessing. He was however particularly glad to see that Kara was in as much of a state of shock as he was, at least he could put this particular experience down to ' _freak of the week_ ' as opposed to the other insane things that Earth-38 considered normal.

"Who are you?" Kara managed while Mxyzptlk continued to do…whatever it was he was doing.

Oliver was, thankfully, unsurprised when the visitor didn't give an answer, instead continuing to bounce around the room. It was clear enough that the visitor had stated his intentions, and there seemed to be nothing that would distract him from them. The situation couldn't help but to remind Oliver of what he had been like when he'd proposed to Felicity, except that this visitor was doing all of that planning in a few short seconds.

Mxyzptlk kept moving around the room, with a word he brought things to existence in a flash of blue light. Suddenly, the room was filled with scented candles, a string quartet and, with a dramatic twirl from the visitor, several bundles of flowers.

"And for the piece de resistance," Mxyzptlk continued, sliding to one knee in front of Kara. "The ring."

Kara glanced down at the, or should have been had it been bought, expensive ring, seemingly even more confused than she was before.

"Kara, sweetie, it's like I said. I'm your one true love, your soulmate, your one true pairing as the kids say. My name is Mxyzptlk and I love you, Kara Zor-El."

"Uh…uh…" Kara stammered, looking across to Oliver in her stupor as if he would be able to provide some kind of answer.

"Tell me… Will you marry me?" Mxyzptlk finished with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Kara's eyes went wide as she let out a nervous laugh.

" _I can show you the world!_ "

Wasn't that… _Aladdin_? A small part of Oliver's brain decided he'd have to thank Thea for making him watch all those Disney movies when they were kids, his recognition of the song forcing a re-boot of the vast majority of his brain function. The part of Oliver's mind that handled his decades of compartmentalisation clicked back into action and he took a step in front of Kara, placing himself between her and the visitor.

"Hey!" Oliver snapped, taking the man by the lapels of his jacket and pulling him to his feet. "Slow down, from the top. Who are you?"

Oliver took a step back, realising the anger he'd just displayed. Maybe he was a little more uncomfortable about the whole situation than he thought, though, never one to admit that, Oliver put it down to pent up anger from his argument with Kara.

"Ah, Oliver Queen of another reality. I must say I didn't expect you, but no matter, you're no romantic rival." Mxyzptlk answered, throwing an arrogant grin at the archer.

Oliver gave Kara a sideways glance at that, the blonde simply shrugging in confusion. Before either of them could say another word, Mxyzptlk vanished in a flash of blue light and reappeared behind Oliver, stood at Kara's side as Oliver himself had been moments ago. Frustration grew over Oliver's features as he spun on his heel to face the trickster, and from the reaction he got, both Mxyzptlk and Kara noticed.

"I must say, while you are nothing more than white noise, I want to be alone with my love."

As Oliver opened his mouth to retort, Mxyzptlk snapped his fingers and a blue light consumed Oliver's vision. A moment later, the light faded and Oliver quickly realised that he was no longer in Kara's apartment. Thankfully, he still knew his surroundings, he'd been sent back to the D.E.O.

"Mr. Queen?" A voice came, and Oliver glanced across to see J'onn staring at him with a puzzled look.

"I'm gonna kill him." Oliver mutter to himself before quickly walking towards the other man. "It's Kara," Oliver announced. "I think she might be in trouble."

 _XXX_

"You've just been visited by a 5th Dimensional being." J'onn explained as if that answer would mean anything.

Okay, so maybe Oliver was at a bit of a disadvantage on that field, he didn't have close to a third of the knowledge that any other person on Earth-38 had of aliens. J'onn's explanation might have had a little more impact if Oliver had known any more of aliens than the two he'd had conversations with. The conversation around him was only half in his attention, Oliver was just glad they'd got Kara back and that trickster hadn't whisked her away to some other planet for a wedding against her will.

Oliver had been changed into his Green Arrow suit by the time Kara had made it to the D.E.O. a few minutes prior. Not that he thought arrows would do him much good against someone with the ability to bring and remove things from existence at will but it made him feel a little more in control. J'onn had to call off the strike team he'd assembled too, the two men had shared a sigh of relief on seeing the Kryptonian return.

"Wait, you've seen one of these before?" Kara questioned J'onn, pulling him back to the conversation.

"Not here on Earth, on Mars." J'onn spoke as the trio reached the central desk in the computer space. "One of them moved the Xan'Xie mountains halfway across the planet during the Zook Uprising."

Oliver had to assume that at least some of those words had actual meanings attached to them, he really would have to get Kara to give him an abridged history of Earth-38's contact with aliens so he could tell which information was new to everyone, and what was just new to him.

"Fifth Dimensional lifeforms possess the ability to warp our reality to their own whims. Abilities that would appear, to all intents and purposes, to be magic."

Mxyzptlk's powers weren't actually magical in nature, Oliver wasn't sure whether he sound find that information reassuring or unnerving. If they had been, he might have just been able to chalk them up to an extension of everything he'd seen with Darhk, and there was a good chance he could have dealt with that. Hearing that those powers were really the bending of reality to the whims of one man, that was far from being okay with him.

Just the idea that one person could possess that amount of power was a little horrifying. Sure, Kara was essentially an all-powerful being but she had weaknesses, but placing her next to Mxyzptlk really put that ' _all-powerful_ ' thing into perspective. Oliver had also been forced to just gloss over the whole 5th Dimension thing, he really was going to have to take a look at some of the D.E.O.'s records at some stage.

"What looks like magic?" A new voice sounded, Oliver wheeling around to face the source. Before he even had a chance to question the arrival, the new man realised Oliver's presence. "And who's he?"

"Mon-El, this is Oliver Queen, from Earth-1." Kara smiled. "Oliver, meet Mon-El of Daxam."

It didn't escape Oliver's notice that Mon-El wasn't particularly receptive to him, the other man giving him an untrusting and scrutinizing stare. Never one to back down, Oliver gave as good as he got, studying the _Daxamite_ intently, trying to pick up on any of the tiny details about him. It took hardly a moment for Kara to pick up on the obvious tension between the two and so, after a pointed look from the blonde Kryptonian, the two stubbornly shook hands.

Oliver did his best to ignore the almost painfully firm grip Mon-El had, clearly super strength was one of his abilities, and he had no doubt that the alien could have broken every bone in his hand if he had wanted to.

"As for the magic," Kara sighed. "I got visited by someone from the 5th Dimension."

"On Daxam we had a zero-tolerance policy for those creatures." Mon-El spoke, clearly having some kind of history with the beings that Oliver filed away to investigate later.

"You had them on Daxam?" Kara asked quickly.

"Yeah. And those guys knew how to party," He answered. "But they're dangerous. Very dangerous."

Oliver eyed Mon-El even more curiously at that. There was something about the man that didn't quite agree with him, something he couldn't quite place. The obvious reason was that he reminded Oliver of himself, or the man that he had been over a decade past. It had been the way he spoke, immediately bringing up the way that 5th Dimensional beings were party-animals after saying his planet had a zero-tolerance policy for them. Oliver couldn't deny he had experience with that; the status and money of the Queen family meant nothing had been off-limits to him.

Despite that, Oliver felt something deeper. For the sake of the conversation he was involved in, Oliver pushed that down.

" _Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind?_ You got it." Winn's voice came from the computer bank as Oliver zoned back in.

"Oh, hey, J'onn." Winn continued. "We are ready to send your message to Mars as soon as you are."

"What message?" Kara asked, at the same time as Oliver asked. " _To_ _Mars?_ "

J'onn gave something of an amused look to Oliver for his disbelief before turning back to Kara.

"On Earth, it's customary to send messages on Valentine's Day. We had a similar custom on Mars."

"It's too bad you can't call her." Kara spoke, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"We Martian's are a psychic people. All our communication was through thought…"

Oliver zoned out again as J'onn continued to speak, two particular thoughts going through his mind.

J'onn was apparently psychic and could communicate telepathically. That raised two questions. What exactly did a Martian's super-powers include and, more importantly, could J'onn read minds? The first was a little inconsequential, from what Oliver understood J'onn was the last of his kind, so he wasn't expecting to go toe-to-toe with a Martian anytime soon, but it would be useful to know. The second was pretty damned important, because if he could, had he been reading Oliver's mind the whole time?

As J'onn walked away, leaving Oliver, Kara and Mon-El together, the archer decided to raise his concerns about J'onn later, when he was alone with Kara. There was a brief pause between the trio, before Kara flashed the two men one of her signature smiles and bounded away with a comment about finding her sister that neither Oliver nor Mon-El paid any real attention to.

"So, Oliver," Mon-El spoke as soon as Kara had left his sight, seeming to stand a little taller as he did. "You run out of bad guys to beat down on Earth-1 or something?"

At those words, the archer turned himself to face Mon-El, his body language changing from that of Oliver Queen to the way he carried himself as Green Arrow. Oliver was never one to back down, especially given the accusatory tone Mon-El was using. The accusation made Oliver realise something though, something he had subconsciously chosen to ignore when Mon-El had arrived; the Damaxite's eyes had gone straight to Kara when he had walked in. Between that and the instant hostility he had shown towards Oliver, the conclusion was pretty obvious.

Mon-El was attracted to Kara.

Oliver couldn't blame him, he knew Kara was an attractive woman, even if he hadn't known about her other life as Supergirl Oliver didn't doubt that he would be drawn to _Kara Danvers_ anyway. The difference was, the looks Mon-El gave her were somehow deeper than that, there was an emotion in his eyes that Oliver couldn't quite place.

"Actually," Oliver began after a short pause, knowing exactly which buttons to push to rile the other man. "Kara invited me here, she asked for my help."

Mon-El actually scoffed at that. "You? What could some punk in green leather possibly have to offer her?"

The aggression in Mon-El's voice at that made some kind of connection in Oliver's brain, taking a pause from the conversation as he ran through the night's events. He had no idea why he had been so on edge. At the bank, a few hours earlier that night, he had gone a little overboard, Oliver knew that, but he was trying to make an impression. With Mxyzptlk he had been unnecessarily aggressive, and now with Mon-El he had become increasingly aggravated when he'd realised the other man was attracted to Kara.

Was he...?

No, that idea was ridiculous. Oliver was not getting defensive over Kara, he had barely been around the girl for two days the last time they met, and he'd been on her Earth less than 5 hours. There was something about her though, some sense of innocence and naivety, that she hadn't been scared by the traumas of her past like Oliver had, something that inspired two very different sensations within him.

Part of him wanted to wake Kara up to the real world, to help her see the shades of grey that became so obvious with the way that they lived their lives, but Kara had somehow manged to ignore. The other part of him wanted to protect her, to save Kara from becoming like him, but from what Barry had told him Kara was doing an excellent job of that herself. She had lost her entire civilisation, save her cousin, and yet she was still more hopeful than Oliver could ever remember himself being.

If, however, Oliver had been thinking rationally, he would have been able to fully extend that reasoning to defend his actions against Mon-El and Mxyzptlk. Yet, he would never admit that.

 _XXX_

Oliver had chosen to handle his argument with Mon-El the way he handled most disagreements he had, by ignoring the problem and punching things. The Daxamite had taken it as an admission of defeat when Oliver had slipped into thought without answering him, and had walked away with a scoff. When the archer snapped into reality again, and had been met with the back of the other man as he walked away, Oliver had asked Winn to point him in the direction of the nearest training room.

Given that he hadn't actually managed to sleep and midnight was quickly approaching, Oliver had purely intended to work his frustrations out until he was exhausted enough to sleep. As per his terrible karma though, he had no such luck. Oliver had manged to spend a little over two hours in the training room, switching between his usual, brutal work-out regimen and practicing with his bow, but by the end of it all he only seemed to find himself even more tightly wound than he had been before.

When he finally decided to leave the training room in search of a new distraction, Oliver was greeted with the skeleton crew that ran the D.E.O. during the graveyard shift. With the way that the building had been so busy on his arrival, Oliver had assumed that there would be a full crew running the facility 24/7. While it was a little strange to see the building so empty, Oliver supposed that The Bunker was no different, if anything it was somewhat worse, but with the amount of automaton Felicity had programmed into it, they didn't always need to have someone working the systems there.

As Oliver had mused on what to do next he was greeted by J'onn, who apparently must have lived at the D.E.O., or incredibly close by at the least to still be in the building at that ungodly an hour.

"Mr. Queen?" J'onn spoke, something of a puzzled look on his face. "I thought you'd left with Kara?"

So, Oliver began to think, maybe J'onn wasn't using his powers to read his mind. If he was, then he wouldn't need to ask that question, or perhaps he was just being polite.

"No, I needed to…" Oliver trailed off briefly, thinking about how to phrase it. "Work some stuff out."

J'onn offered him a small grin at that, his head nodding a little in understanding.

"Mon-El will warm up to you eventually." J'onn spoke carefully. "He's just a little mistrusting of people, especially if he thinks he's protecting Kara."

Oliver couldn't help the look of shock when J'onn spoke, and the Martian clearly noticed.

"I didn't read your mind, if that's what you're thinking." J'onn smiled, clearly used to the same look Oliver gave him from other people. "I just know Mon-El well enough to know that, and to notice that you didn't seem especially fond of him either."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Oliver threw his best disapproving glare at J'onn, something Diggle had helped him perfect over the years. He wasn't _not_ _fond_ of Mon-El, there was just something about the man that Oliver couldn't agree with, not that he actually knew what that something was. Mon-El reminded Oliver a little of himself when he had been in his earlier days on the island, when he had met Slade and Shado, being forced to become something greater than he had been. So maybe he shouldn't have been judging Mon-El so harshly, if he was anything like Oliver then he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

His comment about 5th Dimensional creatures being party animals still tugged at the back of Oliver's mind though.

"I don't dislike him." Oliver answered J'onn firmly. "I just don't trust him yet."

The look J'onn threw him at that wasn't easy to miss. For all accounts, Oliver didn't have a reason to trust any of them yet, with the exception of Kara. They seemed like good people though, Oliver supposed, Alex was clearly protective of Kara, something Oliver could respect, J'onn quite clearly had the respect of all his people, making Oliver think that he should too, and Winn reminded him weirdly of both Cisco and Felicity, which was good enough for him.

J'onn looked as though he was about to say something, but before he had the chance and alarm sounded, the same one they had heard earlier during the bank robbery. The two men shared a quick look of agreement before quickly heading to the centre of the operations room. Winn was already briefing them before they came to a stop, and Mon-El joined them at the same time.

Oliver didn't have a clue what a 'Parasite' was. Well, he did, but not when it was a hulking, purple, 10-foot tall alien… _thing_. He did know that it was causing some considerable damage right outside Kara's apartment. Mon-El had set off immediately at that piece of information, not even giving the others in the room a word as he turned and ran out the same balcony Oliver had used earlier. Knowing that Kara's apartment was close enough for him to reach quickly, Oliver turned and began to head for the balcony, glad that he was still donning his Green Arrow suit.

"Mr. Queen, this creature is an exceptionally powerful, alien lifeform. You need to let Supergirl handle this." J'onn called after him.

Oliver didn't answer, simply pulling up his hood and leaping once more from the balcony.

 _XXX_

The night air was cooling, something Oliver was thankful for as he rounded the last corner to Kara's apartment. He dropped onto the nearest rooftop just in time to see Mon-El getting thrown through a bus-stop by the creature. Noticing Kara on the ground, clearly having taken a hit or two, Oliver leapt from the roof, instinct kicking in.

Landing between Kara and the monster, Oliver drew back his bow, letting off two rapid shots, both with explosive payloads. The creature briefly disappeared in a ball of flame, but Oliver couldn't fight his concern at seeing it had only been knocked back a step or two when the explosion dissipated.

Loading another arrow, Oliver heard Kara and Mon-El exchange a few words behind him. Not taking his eyes of the creature, Oliver recognised the sound of footsteps until he caught sight of the two aliens in his peripheral, Kara on his right and Mon-El to his left. Ignoring the look Mon-El was giving him, Oliver tensed. With a vicious roar, the monster took a step forward and then…

"Up in the sky!"

"It's a bird!"

"It's a plane!"

"It's…"

In a red and blue blur that Oliver would have sworn was Kara had she not been standing right next to him, the creature disappeared. A figure landing with his back to the trio a moment later, a red cape spilling from his shoulders. Oliver didn't lower his bow as the figure and Kara stepped forward and used their… _super-breath?_ …to smother flames that were forming on the road.

"Superman?" Kara spoke when the flames were doused.

With a heavy flair and a _swish_ of his cape, the man turned.

"Not quite."

 _XXX_

Oliver had been forced to quickly become accustomed to a lot of things since his arrival on Earth-38, but the way Kara and Mon-El argued was beginning to test his patience.

When Mxyzptlk had revealed himself and his plans, Oliver had elected to step back and observe, he had been unnervingly out of his depth. Witnessing the ensuing verbal fight and Mon-El's admittance that he knew how to defeat these 5th Dimensional things had been…an experience, but the way the two were arguing since the trio returned to the D.E.O. was beyond irritating. Though, Oliver had realised himself, most of his irritation came from the fact that he was currently siding with Mon-El.

He made a reasonable point, how would it be possible to even begin to get Mxyzptlk to say his name backwards, Oliver didn't think he would be able to say it forward. He knew all too well that certain people only responded to violence, tricking a being with phenomenal cosmic powers might just be a ballpark they wouldn't be able to play in, but Kara's moral code meant that she would only accept the peaceful solution.

Maybe there was a way they could…

"…sometimes you're not a good judge of what you can handle."

 _Shit_.

Kara span on her heel, turning to face Mon-El. Oliver had almost tuned out of their argument until that had caught his attention, and clearly it had fully caught Kara's too.

"So…There it is." Mon-El finished.

" _Really?_ " Kara spoke, worrying Oliver a little with the complete lack of anger in her voice. "Is that why you didn't tell me the secret to getting Mxy off Earth was to get him to say his name backwards, because you didn't think I could handle it?"

"No. I didn't tell you that because it never works." Mon-El shot back. "Because…"

"Enough!" Oliver snapped at them, drawing the attention of a few of the surrounding agents as well as the two aliens. "Unless you've forgotten we've still got some all-powerful psychopath on the loose, and the two of you arguing like children is not going to get us any closer to finding him."

The small feeling of pride that went through Oliver at that was one he quickly suppressed, but he had just managed to make two incredibly powerful aliens look ashamed, that was worth a small win in his book. The almost embarrassed expressions the duo now wore was accompanied by a silence, and Oliver took his time to give them his most convincing look of disapproval (the one he had mastered for Thea's boyfriends).

"Mon-El, find Winn and see if he's manged to find anything that might be able to help." Oliver's tone left no room for discussion. "Kara, a word."

With that, Oliver stepped away, heading for the room where his equipment was being stored. Hearing nothing further from Kara or Mon-El, and with the faint sound of footfalls behind him, Oliver could only assume that his scolding had been taking seriously, and that the two were following his orders. Pushing through into the storage room, and leaving the door open, he moved straight for the duffle bag, removing his quiver and placing it on the table beside it.

Oliver's mask quickly joined it and he began unzipping his jacket, the sound of the door clicking shut making him turn. Shrugging the jacket off, Oliver tossed it to the table, his eyes not moving of Kara as he did. She almost looked a little timid, and it didn't escape Oliver attention that her eyes were drawn to his exposed chest for a moment. Pulling on a t-shirt and letting out a sigh, Oliver spoke.

"I know you don't like it, Kara, but Mon-El might just have a point." Before the Kryptonian could argue Oliver continued. "I'm not saying that there isn't another way, but if this guy keeps escalating then National City could be a crater by this time tomorrow. Tell me honestly, do you have another option?"

Almost immediately he knew those words were the wrong ones, Kara's face filled with anger in a second and her presence practically doubled. If Oliver hadn't known just how firm her moral compass was, he might have been in brief fear for his life.

"I cannot believe you!" Kara burst, taking a few steps towards Oliver. "Everything I said the other night about doing things differently and you still want me to kill Mxy? Did you listen to a word I said?"

"Are you listening to yourself? You've started calling him Mxy!" Oliver shot back, instinctively tensing. "This is someone who literally has the power to erase you from existence with a snap of his fingers and you've given him a nickname. This…this is your problem Kara, you're so above it all that the consequences go right by you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kara crossed her arms over her chest, almost trying to match Oliver for size.

"It means that you've never had to make a tough call, that you've never been stuck when the _only_ option is to take a life."

"How do you do it, Oliver? What lie do you tell yourself so that you can sleep at night?"

"I tell myself the truth, that it's necessary." Oliver couldn't help the way his voice rose a little at that. "Sometimes you don't have another option, when you don't have super-speed or heat-vision to give you a way out. Sometimes you end up stuck, watching the life drain out of your best friend because you've just driven an arrow through his eye, because he didn't give you another choice. Just because you're so blindingly naive Kara doesn't mean that the rest of the world is."

It was only as he finished speaking that Oliver fully realised what he had just said. It wasn't something he usually did, having to defend himself so fully, most of the time it was aa simple ' _I kill because I have_ to' and that was the ned of it. Kara had pushed him so much further, her unyielding worldview made it impossible for him to not get riled up. Not only that, but his breathing was heavy, his fists were clenched and Kara…Kara looked heartbroken, like he had just crushed her favourite puppy under his heel.

"You were right about one thing, Oliver." Kara finally spoke, her voice practically a whisper, picking up a little as she continued. "You aren't a hero"

There was no chance for defence, no room to argue, it had been resolute. Without anything else, not even meeting his eyes, Kara turned and walked from the room. There was no anger in her, just disappointment and sadness. As the door swung closed behind Kara, Oliver leaned back against the table, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a groan.

"Shit."

 **Author's Note: Hey! So…I've totally not been gone for like 6 months or anything…**

 **All things considered, I'm impressed I even made it back to this story. I seriously struggled to write this chapter, just trying to reconnect with the characters and my plans for this story was a major hardship. Unsurprisingly this chapter is by far my least favourite so far, maybe it's because I'm trying to follow the plot from the show though, I'm better when I'm off the leash.**

 **Other than that, please drop a review, positive or negative, right now I need you guys' feedback more than ever if I'm going to find the motivation to continue this story.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Author's Note: Woah, two updates in as many days? What is this sorcery? Well I checked my Nostradamus and this means that there probably won't be an update until the next apocalypse so…**

 **All things considered, this chapter just grabbed me the second I started writing it and then…boom it's done. Again, I'm not a huge fan of this one and it isn't proof read so I'll probably update the chapter a few times to fix a mistake here or there.**

 **The final scene of this chapter was written to Oscar Peterson's** _ **Hymn to Freedom**_ **and I would highly recommended listening to it as you read, it really sets to mood that I have in my head for it.**

 **Other than that, please enjoy, and leave a comment to let me know what you think!**

"Tell me we've got something." Oliver spoke firmly, walking into the office space.

He'd given it a little time before leaving the locker room, wanting to make sure that Kara had cleared the D.E.O. before he went exploring, not wanting to run into her again. While he knew full well that Kara wouldn't physically harm him, just the sight of her would be painful. The way she had looked at him, eyes full of betrayal and disappointment, had almost done him in, almost made Oliver want to repent for just doing things that he had needed to do to survive.

Bringing up Slade hadn't been intentional though, and Oliver couldn't help the invasive memories pushing their way to the forefront his mind. He'd lied to Kara, that had been the hinge of it, because there had been a choice; the cure or the arrow. In the moment, there had only been one option, Oliver had truly believed Slade would make good on his promise, so what else was he to do? The Amazo was about to sink and Oliver wasn't sure if he'd make it out alive himself, there was no choice to make. Even if five years later he'd accepted the mistake he had made, in the moment, there was no other way.

That was what he had wanted Kara to understand. He wasn't like her and Barry, he couldn't process a hundred different variables in only a second because he had super speed to help him out. Instinct was sometimes all he had, and Kara would never be able to understand that. He'd had all those thoughts while restocking his quiver of grappling and explosive arrows.

Once that had been finished, he'd set off in search of Mon-El and Winn, hoping that Kara would have already left. Thankfully, the blonde Kryptonian was nowhere to be found, and so Oliver had headed straight for Mon-El, the glass walls making him easy to locate. That, Oliver thought, was one of the benefits of the D.E.O. being a little less clandestine than A.R.G.U.S., the whole operation felt cleaner, less dark, yet somehow just as clinical. It was a strange line to walk, but so were most of the things Oliver found himself involved in. Winn had left just as Oliver had been arriving, the I.T. wizard mumbling something about ' _Starhaven_ ' and ' _Valerian's_ ' under his breath.

"Winn only found two things that register for 5th Dimensional energy." Mon-El answered, giving only a quick, disapproving glance at Oliver.

Approaching the desk, Oliver took in the open boxes. One contained something resembling a pendant, a blue gem centred in a metal casing, a chain attached to the top. The other looked almost like an uncut diamond, dull but shinning blue at the same time. The blue, Oliver quickly realised, was almost identical in colour to the "magic" Mxyzptlk employed.

"We both know Kara won't use these against him." Mon-El spoke up, looking across at Oliver with a slightly more neutral expression. "One of the agents told me about the fight you had with Kara yesterday, you know what it'll take to stop a guy like him."

He hated it before and he hated it then, but Oliver had to agree with Mon-El. There were lines Kara wouldn't cross that needed crossing, things that had to be done in the name of justice. Stopping a creature like Mxyzptlk required no line, there was nothing that would be off limits, Oliver knew that. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Proof enough was Mxyzptlk, infinite power that could be used to benefit the universe, and here he was using it to try and woo Kara. Oliver had firmly believed what he had said though, if Mxyzptlk continued escalating then National City was in big trouble.

"I know." Oliver answered simply. "Kara won't be forgiving if we do this."

Mon-El sucked in a heavy breath before replying. "She'll get over it."

Oliver was almost inclined to forgive Mon-El at that, he was acting like a solider and that was what they both needed. Looking at the options they had, Oliver began to run a plan through in his head. There weren't many obvious choices, and with someone as powerful as Mxyzptlk the room for variation was huge.

"What did Winn say these will do to him?" Oliver asked.

"No idea, we just need to find the imp and hit him with what we've got."

Maybe…Oliver began to process, maybe there was an option. Something to keep Mxyzptlk off guard, lull him into one fight and use it as a trap for the other. They had two clear weapons, and there was definitely a way to utilise them both. An attack on two fronts then, Mon-El as the bait and Oliver as the killing blow. This might just work.

"Does the D.E.O. have something we can use to cut the rock?"

 _XXX_

Of course, the imp had transported them. Why would anything about the plan actually go in their favour? Thankfully, Mon-El had been wearing a comms device, and Oliver had been able to track him down quickly enough. It was a stroke of luck that they had only moved a few blocks, by some miracle Mxyzptlk had chosen to stay in National City as opposed to just transporting Mon-El into the heart of the sun. The theatre had been easy enough to find and even easier to sneak into. Dropping through the roof, Oliver made his way through the circle, heading towards where the sounds of a fight bounded from.

"Why, you think she's gonna be with you?" Oliver heard Mxyzptlk's voice as he reached the edge of the circle. "Face it, what have you got to offer her? I can give her anything. There's no contest between you and me, and you know it. I'm a god and you're a loser."

Just as the sound of more grappling reached him, Oliver took to the edge, perching himself above the isle with a perfect view of the fight below him. Mon-El and Mxyzptlk had each other by the throats but…Oliver didn't even want to ask why they were dressed like the founding fathers, that was something to be filed away to deal with later.

"You're a dead man." Mon-El's voice reached him.

By the looks of it, the pendant had the desire effect on the imp, the way the two were fighting meant that his powers were no longer at his disposal. Oliver stayed perched, waiting for the right time to make a move. While he didn't fully trust Mon-El, staying hidden above the fight allowed him the element of surprise, Oliver would engage when Mon-El needed him too.

"Strike that." Mxyzptlk spoke, raising his hand. "Reverse it."

Oliver couldn't see it, with Mxyzptlk's back to him that wasn't a surprise, but the blue explosion of energy when the imp crushed his fist made it pretty clear that he had managed to get the pendant back. Letting out a grunt of irritation, Oliver stayed the course, waiting for a clear time to strike. With a snap of his fingers, Mxyzptlk was at the stage, gun in his hand and with Mon-El suspended from the roof by a rope.

The moment Oliver saw the gun raise, he leapt into action.

It was a fair distance to cover, but Oliver knew he could do it. Kicking hard, The Green Arrow took to the air, his focus practically making time slow as he sailed through the air. It took less than a second for him to be sure that he would make it to the stage, and then his attention turned to his target. Mxyzptlk was so sure that he was alone that he was completely defenceless; his back was turned, he had no time to react.

With practiced precision, Oliver reached to his quiver. Before his feet touched the ground, three arrows had been let fly. Two were tipped in blue gemstone, sharpened to a vicious point and gleaming in the light of the stage lamps. Those two flew a straight course, and the sound of their impact perfectly accompanied Oliver's landing on the stage. The groan of agony Mxyzptlk let out as two 5th Dimensional arrows pierced through his shoulders gave Oliver a strange sense of satisfaction.

The gemstone the D.E.O. had collected was easy enough to turn into arrowheads, all it had needed was a high-powered laser-cutter, of which the D.E.O. owned several. It had taken no time at all to fashion the arrowheads, it was a skill Oliver had learnt well. There had only been enough of the rock to make three, with a few chunks left over, but three would hopefully be enough.

The third, and standard metal, arrow found it's mark in the rope that held Mon-El, cutting though the material easily and allowing the Daxamite to drop to the floor. As Mon-El tore the remaining bindings from his body, Oliver stalked over to Mxyzptlk, teeth gritted and a low growl escaping him as he did. With an anger, and ignoring whatever crap the imp had started to speak, Oliver grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, dragging him to his feet.

"For a man from another universe, you have quite the bite." The words of the imp reached Oliver's ears but not his brain.

Spinning him, Oliver shoved Mxyzptlk towards Mon-El, the Daxamite easily catching him with two hands on his lapels. Oliver was almost surprised at how little the two needed to communicate, though he knew full well the clarity that a fight could give to a person. Crossing a few steps, Oliver reached out, gripping the arrow buried in the imp's left shoulder with his right hand and pressing hard. The scream that came from Mxyzptlk was so worth it, and the look Mon-El gave to Oliver bore something akin to approval.

"We know what it'll take for you to leave." Oliver growled, his voice matching the one he'd used at the start of his crusade as he pressed the arrow forward a little further, any more and it would pierce through the skin on the opposite side. "Say the word and I'll stop."

"Like I'll…" Whatever else Mxyzptlk was about to say was cut off when Oliver pushed harder, his words turning to another cry of anguish.

"Say it!" Oliver snapped, wrenching the imp back and allowing him to fall to the floor. With a fluid move, he nocked the final arrow they had been able to make, taking aim at Mxyzptlk. "Or the next arrow goes through your heart."

"You can take a beating, but something tells me even you can't survive that." Mon-El spoke, taking a stance at Oliver's side.

When the imp remained silent, Oliver's patience waned. "You've got three seconds…two…one…"

" _Stop_!"

In the blink of an eye, Mxyzptlk was obscured from view, and the red and blue of Supergirl's uniform took over Oliver's vision. The sight of Kara simultaneously angered and soothed Oliver. Just her presence was enough for the red that had consumed him to fade away a little, a small clarity washing over him. At the same time, she had just put herself between a lethal payload and a psychopath, which couldn't have been a worse decision. If Mxyzptlk's powers worked on Kara, Oliver had little doubt that the 5th Dimensional arrow would affect her too. To what extent he probably would never know, but he wasn't keen to find out.

"Kara." Mon-El's voice snapped Oliver's thoughts.

"Sweetheart!" Mxyzptlk spoke quickly, pain still evident in his voice. "These volatile maniacs tried to kill me."

"Kara." Oliver growled, his voice low and threatening. "Get out of my way."

He wasn't ready to back down, he'd made a decision and had committed to the plan. All he needed was a clear shot and Mxyzptlk was gone, one way or the other. Kara and her obnoxious moral compass had stalled the plan in its entirety, all she'd needed to do was be thirty seconds slower and it would have been over. Now the situation required improvisation, and Oliver didn't like it at all.

"Oliver!" Kara suddenly snapped at him, taking a step in his direction. "Put the arrow down, right now."

Her voice didn't even come close to the threatening tones Oliver's had, but the resoluteness was there. Kara had the advantage and she knew it. So long as she was between the arrow and Mxyzptlk, Oliver wouldn't take the shot. No matter how corrupt and blurred his morals, even Oliver had lines that he couldn't cross. Even if he would be willing to take a shot at Kara, what then? He'd be out of 5th dimensional weapons and Mxyzptlk would undoubtedly become hell bent on revenge.

Still though, he held his ground, unmoving, the arrow that had been set for Mxyzptlk now squarely aimed at Kara's heart.

"Oliver, please." Kara's voice was softer now, her eyes pleading, anger fading away. "Don't do this."

Teeth gritted, a sigh of irritation leaving him, Oliver relented. With a slight roll of his eyes, Oliver lowered his bow, relaxing the drawstring and returning the arrow to his quiver. Kara hadn't left him with many options, any move he would make she could counter in a second, and Oliver knew he wouldn't be able to rely on Mon-El to distract her long enough for him to get a shot off. It was unmissable for him though, the way that Kara's expression changed, almost immediately hardening towards him once the arrow had been stowed away.

Before Oliver could get a word out, the silence of the room was cut with another grunt of pain. There was no time to react, nothing to be done. By the time Kara had turned around, Mxyzptlk was on his feet, arrows gone from his shoulders and clearly back to full strength. All it took was for Oliver to blink and he found himself as Mon-El had been mere minutes ago, wrapped and chains and dangling from the ceiling above the stage. His quiver and bow were gone, hood and mask pulled away.

Mon-El was in the exact same predicament a few feet away from him, sporting a look of anger identical to Oliver's. Kara though, was still on the ground and stood beside the imp. That was when Oliver saw it, the 18th century duelling pistol (so maybe Thea had dragged him to see _Hamilton_ and he'd decided to do some reading afterwards) that the imp was holding, from the look he shared with Mon-El they both knew what the imp had in mind.

"It'll be better for all of us once I've snuffed the two of you out."

The gun raised, even with Kara in the room Oliver flinched, not seeing a way out, and then…

"I'll marry you!"

 _XXX_

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" Oliver burst through the door to Kara's apartment the moment it opened.

Mxyzptlk had transported both him and Mon-El back to the D.E.O. the moment Kara had started to discuss the wedding, and Oliver couldn't have been more thankful that he was yet to be sent off to some distant moon a billion lightyears away. For a vindictive psychopath Mxyzptlk was oddly generous. The second that Oliver had found his bearings he'd set right off for Kara's apartment, not doubting that Mon-El would be mere moments behind him.

"Have you even thought about this? What this might mean for you?" Oliver continued, coming to a stop and turning to face Kara as he heard the door close.

"He was about to kill you, Oliver…you and Mon-El." Kara shot back, her voice not matching Oliver's at all, the calmness there almost scary. "I'm not in love with him, but I had to save you."

It was a good reason for her actions, Oliver fully understood that. In the brief time he'd spent thinking about it he'd realised that the options were limited, hell there hardly were any. If Kara had made a move then Mxyzptlk could have countered it, without a moment of hesitation and far quicker and more creatively than any of them could have processed. If it wasn't for the imp's obsession with showmanship then Oliver had no doubts that his neck could have been broken with a snap of fingers. Still though, that part of his mind, the part begging for him to not let Kara get tainted by the same darkness that he himself had been ruined by, was crying out for him to do something.

"I didn't ask you to do that." Oliver dropped his voice a little as he spoke.

"Well, I didn't have a choice." Kara answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "You were the one who told me that I needed to learn what it was like to do something when there's no other options, and now I have."

 _Shit_.

Kara definitely had him backed into a corner on that one. It had been only a few hours ago when they'd had that augment, and here Kara was, already proving him wrong. It probably was the only real choice to make, until they could come up with a better option at the least. All his posturing about making the hard decisions and Kara had done it without blinking, to save him, someone who was practically a stranger to her. Yes, she had done it for Mon-El too, but there had been a hesitation, Kara had singled Oliver himself out, paused before mentioning the Daxamite.

"And you know what? He makes an excellent point." Kara continued. "He has limitless power that he can use to help me fight for justice. We'll make a great team."

There was conviction in Kara's voice, that much was true, but Oliver was almost a professional at reading people. Sure, there were those who made it by him, those with real conviction like Adrian Chase and Isabel Rochev. Kara though…she was almost a little too easy. It almost didn't sound like she was trying to convince Oliver, maybe it was for her own benefit, or maybe it was for _someone_ else. Maybe Kara had been right, maybe there as another option.

"Then I'll head back to my Earth." Oliver spoke with a firmness in his voice, probing a little to see Kara's reaction. "Once you've got Limitless Power on your side, you won't need my help anymore."

"I guess not." Kara spoke with even less conviction this time, her eyes darting down to avoid Oliver's.

The reaction from Kara wasn't significant, but it was enough. A fleeting look of disappointment in her eyes. She didn't want him to leave, she still needed him. It was telling enough, Kara had something in mind, and Oliver had one option. Taking a few steps back towards the door, Oliver stopped at Kara's side, looking across to her.

"Kara?" At the sound of his voice her eyes raised again, meeting Oliver's own. "I'm sure you know what you're doing. I trust you."

The happiness he saw there was enough for Oliver to be sure that he was right.

 _XXX_

Night had fallen the next time Oliver found himself at Kara's apartment. He'd gone back to the D.E.O. following their earlier conversation, fully intending to get in both a workout and a little research into the 5th Dimension. It had hardly been 30 minutes before Oliver crashed out, sat in a desk chair in front of a computer. He hadn't even realised it, but with everything happening he had officially managed to go for almost two days without sleep. While it wasn't something wholly alien to him (between Lian Yu and his double life Oliver had more than a little experience with sleepless nights), but his body craved the rest all the same.

By the time he had woken the sun had begun to set, crisp red-light bleeding in through the windows of the storage room Oliver had practically claimed as his own. That had been what had woken him, the cascade of light against his eyes as the clouds had shifted, and Oliver had been thankful for it. It didn't take long to shrug off his slumber and swap out The Green Arrow suit for civilian clothes, as comfortable as it was Oliver really did hate spending too much time in that leather outfit.

After that, a few brief words with J'onn had confirmed that Kara was alive, unharmed, and still single. With that information calming him significantly, Oliver had set out for her apartment, the journey already etched into his memory.

He'd hardly had to knock once when the door to _4A_ swung open. It was something of a relief as his eyes took in Kara, despite J'onn's assurances Oliver had needed to see her himself, just to be sure. Kara, though, seemed a little unreadable as Oliver took her in. There was a neutrality on her face that Oliver was far from used to seeing but, he supposed, there was good reason for it. Even if Oliver had eventually relented and trusted her to do the right thing, he had still gone to extreme lengths to show the exact opposite just before.

"Hi." It almost seemed dumb to say out aloud, but he really wasn't sure where else to start. When Kara didn't reply he continued. "Mind if I come in?"

Again, she stayed silent, simply stepping to the side to allow Oliver access to the apartment. It felt a little different to the last two times Oliver had been there. The usually bright space was more muted, the lights low and the room only illuminated by a few soft lamps scattered here and there. The flowers that had been left by Mxyzptlk had all faded away, and the room felt a lot more like Kara without them. The final thing he noted was the kitchen island or, more specifically, the glass of wine and pint of half-finished ice-cream that sat upon it.

"J'onn told me what happened." Oliver began, turning to face Kara, leaning back against the island as he did. "What you did was…you found another way."

The faint trace of a smile that teased his lips was one Oliver could not repress, Kara really had impressed him. Even with all that conviction, everything he had been so certain about when he had aimed that arrow at Mxyzptlk's heart, there in that moment, looking into her eyes, Oliver knew she had been right. There _was_ another way. Maybe there wouldn't always be for him, but Kara had done it, effortlessly and without compromise. Super really didn't cover it.

"That mean you're ready to admit you were wrong?" Kara teased, moving closer to Oliver, a smile on her lips.

"It means…" Oliver chuckled a little as he trailed off, his smile growing to match Kara's. "I'm willing to admit that I wasn't completely right."

There was a moment then, when the whole world seemed to fall away as they shared a laugh, like a silence had claimed everything that wasn't them. Eyes drawn to lips, Oliver almost mesmerised as he watched that laugh fall from her, the curve her lips made, the way her tongue poked out a little to wet them and caused the dim light of the apartment to practically make them glow, the all too captivating sound she made. Just as Kara was drawn to his own.

"I should have trusted you." Oliver spoke once the silence had settled back in. "It's something I've been working on, and I'm…I'm not always good at it, but you've given me some pretty good reasons to trust you. So…" Sucking in a deep breath, Oliver finished. "I'm sorry, for not backing your play from the start."

The smile he got in return was so warm that Oliver could practically feel some of that sunlight Kara absorbed.

"But I should probably head back to the D.E.O., I could do with a decent night of rest." Oliver bowed his head a little, wetting his lips slightly as he made a move for the door.

Before he could get anywhere, Kara took a sidestep to stop him. "I think…maybe I should apologise too." As soon as Oliver opened his mouth to protest Kara continued. "That first night, I told you I was being selfish for not trying to understand you, and I didn't try at all this time around."

"Kara, you…"

"So, I was thinking." She interrupted him. "I've got a bottle of wine and half a pint of mint-chip, you should stay and we can both… _try_."

There really was something about her, something that Diggle had noticed long before Oliver had been able to. With just two days work, Kara had managed to change him, make him realise that things maybe didn't always have to be quite so black and white. That maybe, just maybe, there might be room for a little colour in his life if he let it. Diggle had been right, Kara was sunshine, and Oliver didn't have to look to hard to realise that spending some time in the sunlight wasn't going to be such a bad thing. After all, darkness never did last forever.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Wait. So, you built a prison on the island you were marooned on for five years?" Kara asked, a little stunned. "Isn't that a little…"

"Ironic? Masochistic? Totally insane?" Oliver smirked as he cut over her. "John said something similar."

The mint-chip had long since been eaten, the empty carton now sat on the coffee table with a single spoon resting in it. A second bottle of wine had joined the first and now that was almost empty too, even though Oliver was only on his second glass. Unsurprisingly, Kara had drunk more of it than he had, being as the alcohol didn't affect her she was far less concerned about her pace. Oliver was a lot more reserved about it, taking much slower and less frequent sips, Kara had to reason that he was cautious about consuming alcohol.

Kara wasn't too sure of how long it had been since Oliver had arrived at her apartment. After he'd agreed to stay and talk they hadn't moved from the sofa, just lost in the enjoyment of the other's company. Oliver seemed a little more relaxed than she had ever seen him before though, the perpetual tenseness in his shoulders was gone and his lips hardly seemed to falter from a smile, and Kara couldn't help but to be a little proud of herself for it.

Ever since they'd started to fall into more comfortable conversation about their lives, Kara had been trying to poke a little into the ' _real_ ' Oliver Queen. Perhaps it was the journalist in her or perhaps it was just because she wanted to get to know him better, Kara wasn't sure, but regardless she had been doing her best to avoid coming off as a little too blunt. There'd been some openness from Oliver though, not as much as Kara would have liked, but she could appreciate his need for secrets.

Most of what he'd actually spoken about was after he had become The Green Arrow, or 'The Hood' as he had first been called on his return home. He had told her about training Barry, and Kara couldn't help but to laugh along with him as he'd regaled her with the story of shooting the speedster (it had made Kara even more thankful for having impenetrable skin). He'd told her about his friends; Roy Harper, Laurel Lance, Tommy Merlyn, and so many of the people who had given their all to his crusade.

Despite the almost light air around them, the conversation had hit Kara hard. It had been a little strange for her, seeing and hearing him open up the way he did, the usually impregnable stone walls of The Green Arrow had dropped, and Kara had managed to have a conversation with _Oliver Queen_ instead. She had to wonder how many other people had seen this side of him, the man beneath all the anger and bravado. That man, Kara had decided, was one she would definitely like to get to know better.

"As prisons go that's…secure." Kara smiled a little, still somewhat thrown by the revelation. "It seems like the D.E.O. has at least one breakout a year."

"Well, I am yet to have that problem." Oliver smiled back. "Not that anyone could get off the island if they escaped, but that's the point, right?"

"I haven't meet a prison that can actually hold its inmates." Kara answered, thinking about all the trouble she'd had since becoming Supergirl. "I mean, half the bad guys I fought last year were escapees from Fort Rozz."

"Military base?" Oliver questioned before taking a sip from his wine, his eyes not leaving Kara as he did.

"Kryptonian Supermax." Her response went unanswered by Oliver, and Kara could practically see the gears grinding behind his eyes as he mentally sorted the new information. "And most of the criminals who escaped wanted me dead because my mom sent them there. Small universe, huh?"

It had become something Kara almost had to laugh about. The ridiculousness of it all. Fort Rozz had been home to the worst of the galaxy's worst, escaped the Phantom Zone because of her, and unleashed a frightening number of criminals onto Earth, but just to top it off they had all wanted to kill her because of what her mother had done. The odds of it all were astronomically low, she'd actually gotten bored one particularly crime free afternoon and done the math, but still it happened. What else was she to do but try and laugh it away? It wasn't as though getting angry about it would make a difference.

When she met Oliver's eyes though, she could see something in them. Not pity as she'd almost expected, but understanding. It wasn't a reaction she was accustomed to, there was no one who could have known that pain. Yet, there was Oliver Queen, those captivating blue eyes Kara just couldn't look away from betraying empathy that was foreign to her. How could he understand?

"I know a little about having to deal with the sins of your parents." Oliver spoke as if reading her mind. He swallowed then, taking a breath before continuing. "It feels like this weight, constantly pushing down on you and no matter how hard you try, you can never get used to carrying it. You can work out until every muscle in your body aches, repent to everyone they wronged, fight every single one of those demons they left behind but it…it's never enough."

And there it was. Everything Kara had hoped for, because Oliver _did_ understand. She'd never been able to fully realise it herself, to put into words exactly what is was she felt after learning the truth about her parents. Her mother and her father had both kept secrets, done things that just didn't match up with the people she had known them to be, and Kara had never thought anyone else would really understand that. Oliver had done it, like it was any other day he'd been able to explain her own feeling to her better than she had ever been able to realise.

"Oliver, I…" There were no words for her to use, no real response that she could give.

"You know, Barry told me a little about you, how you ended up on Earth." Oliver spoke, his eyes dropping from Kara's for a moment as the index finger of his left hand began to tap against his leg. "I've seen a lot, doing what we do. A lot of pain. A lot of suffering. But I… I never got a chance to tell you…to say sorry."

When Oliver met her eyes again there was something else in them. Gone was the understanding and empathy, replaced by true heartbreak. It hadn't escaped Kara's notice that Oliver avoided talking about his family, and after what had been said she could only draw one conclusion. Even with that, the look in his eyes told her that he knew about Krypton, because those eyes were just how she saw her own in the mirror some mornings.

She couldn't answer him. There was nothing that could even come close to expressing the cacophony of thoughts in her mind. The sadness, the frustration, the longing for a home that could never be satisfied, the connection she had suddenly discovered with Oliver Queen. Kara's mind was never an easy place to be, but then, sat on a couch just across from a man who almost seemed to understand her, things seemed to much more complicated, yet infinitely simpler at the same time.

"Kara, you…you're incredible. To have gone through what you did and to come out so…optimistic, so untainted by it all. I don't think I could have done it." Oliver continued.

It was then Kara realised how close the two had moved. It was both that had done it. They'd started the evening on opposite ends of the couch, using the armrests and cushions for back support, and now they'd all-but met in the middle. Bodies angled towards each other, Kara's legs crossed under her, two sets of blue eyes glistening in the lamplight as they looked _into_ each other.

There was nothing left to be said. Kara's eyes dropped from Oliver's, inching down to his lips, her mind suddenly equally as focused on them as it had been his eyes a moment ago. The way Oliver moved a little closer told her that he had done the same. They were both, in that moment, connected, in a way neither had felt before. Their minds not questioning the way their bodies decided to gravitate towards each other, inching a little closer.

Kara's eyes drifted shut then, her own Oliver's lips slowly closing the remaining few inches between them. She could practically feel the heat coming off him, the electricity that sparked between them. A moment that she had too easily lost herself in and then…

 _Sirens._

They both pulled apart, the sound piercing into the room through the open balcony doors. Kara didn't say a word as she super-sped her way into her uniform and took to the skies, after all, the mission came first, right?

 _XXX_

They didn't talk about it after that, Oliver had made sure of it. The week that had followed had been completely void of even a hint of the events of that night. He'd known full well that Kara wouldn't be the one to broach the subject, she was far too nervous about it, and Oliver had no intentions of being the one to do so. He couldn't afford the distraction, not now, not ever. He had allowed himself to drift a little too close, to open himself up a little too much to a woman from a planet he would never even see. What had nearly happened with Kara was something Oliver needed to make sure would never happened again.

Yet, he'd enjoyed the evening. Spending time with Kara, learning about her, allowing himself to let someone else in, it had been oddly liberating. Even with everything they had talked about, he had felt more like Oliver Queen then than he had in a long time. Maybe even the first time in 10 years. Kara was incredible, it hadn't been a lie. When he really thought about it Kara made sense. When he had been though his crucible, he had come out ruthless and angry at the world. Kara had experience heartbreak on a scale Oliver could never fully understand but she dealt with it by seeing the best in everything and everyone, the naivety and gratuitous happiness made a lot of sense when he really thought about it.

Still he couldn't let himself get any closer to her. Kara had said it herself, they _were_ from different worlds, quite literally. So, he had done what he always did; thrown himself into his work. For a whole week Oliver had worked in tandem with the D.E.O., pouring over the Cadmus casefiles, looking into everything they could. The Green Arrow had hit the streets to interrogate known sympathisers, Oliver and Winn had searched databases, satellites, and anything else they could think of.

Cadmus was an interesting opponent if nothing else. It had long been one of Oliver's beliefs that large groups of people were incapable of keeping secrets, it was the reason he was so protective of his identity, and yet Cadmus seemed to have resources everywhere but no weak links. Lillian Luthor was the one promising lead they had, and only because of her daughter Lena. The moment Oliver had brought that one up Kara had shot him down, stating that Lena was nothing to do with the group, especially after she had been falsely accused of aiding Cadmus a few weeks prior.

Even with that, Oliver still wanted to question her. He had managed to narrow down a handful of locations that were likely to be Cadmus safehouses, and a little light recon had helped to confirm his suspicions, but there were still a lot of locations and potential allies of the organisation that he couldn't fully eliminate or confirm. Though, Kara was the one holding him back. She hadn't said much to him, in fact they had hardly spoken the last seven days, but they had more or less patched things up, and he wasn't too keen to have to apologise to her again any time soon.

Then again, he had posed the question to Winn as they had been working, Kara had asked for his help to track down her adoptive-father, surely, she would forgive him easily enough if he got results?

"I don't know, man." Winn answered, looking up from his computer. "Kara remembers, Kryptonian brain, you know? Pretty much means she'll never forget a thing. If you go after Lena and it doesn't pan out, you…you might be screwed."

Drumming his fingers again the desk, Oliver pondered the answer. They were beginning to run out of leads, there was only so much more information to pour over and after that no amount of work would change anything. What they really needed was a new injection of facts, someone who could give them enough of a push in the right direction that they might be able to tick a few more things off the list.

With a heavy sigh Oliver rose to his feet, mind made up and a plan in place. The look Winn gave him was an understanding, if a fearful one. The I.T. genius had clearly recognised the look of determination in Oliver's eyes and deduced his plan, even if Oliver wasn't wholly convinced of it himself.

Donning the Green Arrow suit once more, Oliver took to the streets. The D.E.O. had loaned him a bike identical to the one he owned back on his Earth, and it had made navigation a lot easier. Over the last week he had come to know National City fairly well, stalking xenophobes from rooftops had certainly aided with that one. From what they knew of her, Lena Luthor would be working late, and the L-Corp building wasn't hard to find at all. Much as Queen Consolidated had been, the building stood near central to the city, the emblem proudly emblazoned across the top few floors for all too see.

With a few well-placed arrows, Oliver was at the balcony. The glass walls confirmed their suspicious, and a few words to Winn cut the power to the building. Stepping through the partly opened door, The Green Arrow stood tall.

"Lena Luthor." The voice modulator warbled. "I need your help."

 _XXX_

Kara didn't get the alert until a little too late. She hadn't been looking at her phone, too busy working late on an article for Snapper and trying to avoid Oliver. Things had been…strained between them since the kiss that had almost been. Okay, so maybe strained was an understatement but still. There had been a silent realisation between the two of them; their lives were complicated enough, they couldn't let things get any more difficult. But then, Kara's subconscious had argued, why did being around Oliver that night feel so simple?

Either way, it had gone undiscussed. Oliver hadn't even attempted to bring it up, and his reluctance intimidated Kara enough to not say anything at all. She'd just thrown herself into her work, just as she knew Oliver had done, and they had managed to find a vague semblance of normality.

Her need to be distracted was what Kara blamed for missing the alert on her phone. After thwarting two separate robberies at the building, Kara had convinced Winn to set her up to be notified if anything suspicious happened at the L-Corp building. As soon as the security team there registered something, the bug Winn placed in their server would send out an alert to Kara's phone. She'd finally pulled it out of her bag when her eyes had begun to strain from all the reading, and the flashing bubble on the lock screen had made her eyes go wide:

 _ **L-Corp**_

 _Security alert. 15mins ago_

She hadn't hesitated after that. Leaving everything at her desk and rushing to the roof to head for L-Corp, one of the few perks of working late was that she didn't need to worry about being seen, there was only a skeleton crew on staff. It had taken less than a minute for Supergirl to arrive at the balcony to Lena's office, and when she did, it was an odd sight.

There had been nothing on the approach. None of her powers had picked up anything out of the ordinary. The same was true at Lena's office, the raven-haired C.E.O. sat on her couch looking over some files. Gracefully landing on the balcony, Supergirl stepped through the open door, eyes alert for trouble.

"Lena?" Supergirl called her name.

"Supergirl." Lena looked up from her paperwork with a smile. "If you're looking for your friend on the hood he's already left."

 _Wait what?_

"Ol…" Kara caught herself. "Green Arrow was here?"

She had told him, out and out the moment he had mentioned it, that Lena Luthor was _off limits_. Kara knew that her friend wasn't involved with Cadmus, that Lena had already been cleared of any involvement by both the media and the D.E.O., and that (despite their resolution) Kara really didn't want Oliver interrogating Lena.

" _Green Arrow_?" Lena almost scoffed. "That's what he's called? A little on the nose, wouldn't you say?"

"You're alright?" Supergirl asked, crossing the room in a few strides. "He didn't hurt you?"

Lena practically recoiled at that, throwing an incredulous look at Supergirl. "Hurt me? Don't be ridiculous, save for giving me the shock of my life he hardly came close to me."

"Then…what did he want?"

"My help, apparently." Lena gestured to the array of files on her desk at that, and it was only then that Kara realised it was all information related to Cadmus. Suspected weapons caches, potential sympathisers, suspicious locations, all the things Oliver had been working on for the last week. "He said that I might be able to give them an 'inside perspective'. After all, if anyone could figure out what mother is up to it's me."

"I'm sorry, Lena." Supergirl took a final, tentative step towards her friend. "I told him to leave you out of this, that you've already been dragged though…"

"Supergirl, it's fine." Lena cut over her, causing the hero to stand a little straighter with surprise. "If I can help track down Cadmus and my mother then it's my duty to do so."

So, Lena was okay with it. Kara had to take that as a consolation. Oliver had still ignored her wishes though, ignored her outright demand that Lena be left alone. Though, she mused, that wasn't exactly how it had been phrased. What Kara had actually told Oliver was that he wasn't to " _interrogate Lena like some common criminal_ ", which he technically hadn't done. Undoubtedly, he'd use that in his defence.

She was still going to be having a serious discussion with Oliver the next time she saw him.

 _XXX_

It was late morning when Kara arrived at the D.E.O., Monday had finally rolled around meaning that Oliver had only a few more days before the time Thea had managed to buy him with City Hall would be up. He wanted nothing more than for them to have some success in locating Jerimiah Danvers before then, at the very least Oliver had managed to give the search a little more direction though, and that would be consolation enough if they couldn't make any more progress…or so he hoped.

Despite it all, Oliver didn't want to disappoint Kara again. He knew she would never actually say it, Kara would just reassure Oliver that he'd done all he could do, that he'd managed to help them enough with what little time they had to work with. As much as her ability to see the best on people was annoyingly predictable, Oliver had to admit that it was somewhat comforting. That said, unless they made a significant discovery in the next few days, Oliver knew he would be leaving Earth-38 having failed Kara and her family.

Footsteps behind him broke his thoughts and Oliver drifted back into the world around him. Oliver didn't have to turn around to know that it was Kara approaching him; the pattern of the footfalls was one he recognised immediately, it was a strange skill, being able to identify a person by the movements they made but one he had nonetheless. There were a few words exchanged behind him, and Oliver's attention was kept to the monitor before him, checking on the leads that he had been given by Lena Luthor.

He barely got a chance to tune into Kara's conversation with J'onn when…

"Holy Cadmus cream egg!"

 _Seriously?_

Oliver turned to Winn, jumping from his own seat and heading to the other man, his eyes briefly meeting Kara's as she did the same.

"Cadmus? You've found something?" Kara asked, standing at Winn's other side, looking up at the large central monitor.

"This isn't one of the locations we were watching." Oliver thought aloud as he looked at the images on Winn's computer. "Where is this?"

"Remote warehouse just on the edge of the city limits." Win answered, pulling up satellite surveillance. "Looks like a convoy coming out of one of the suspected weapons storage facilities."

Something began pulling at Oliver's subconscious as he read over the information on the screens. He couldn't tell what it was, his keen skills were alight but it evaded him still. It was almost too obvious, too intentional, like they were being taunted.

"Tell Alex to set up a back-up team." Kara spoke, turning away from the two men.

"You're not going alone." Oliver wheeled around to face her, fully intending on joining Kara himself.

"I'll take J'onn, we'll get there faster."

With that she was gone, disappearing into the bustle of agents as she headed for the exit. A groan of irritation escaping his lips, Oliver turned back to the monitor bank, forced to watch as Supergirl and _Martian Manhunter_ (he still thought that was a weird code name) headed for the convoy. The impatience was almost painful, he wasn't used to being so useless during a mission, and Oliver had to wonder if he was feeling the same things Felicity felt every time he and the team were out on the field.

"She'll be fine." Winn spoke, pulling Oliver's attention. "Kara's like invulnerable, nothing can stop her."

Oliver didn't reply, simply watching the GPS dots zoom across the digital map in front of him. Even when Kara and J'onn arrived at an old industrial testing ground all he was able to do as listen to their comms and try and figure out what was happening. The gunfire made him flinch a little, until Oliver reminded himself that Kara's skin was bulletproof. In silence he and Winn watched the feed, as the two blips that represented J'onn and Kara zipped around, until finally they stopped, side-by-side.

"O _h my God_." Kara's voice came through over the comms.

"Kara?" Oliver called, straightening up in his chair even more. "What is it?"

"It's…we found Jerimiah."

* * *

 **Author's Note: So, one more chapter down. I'm currently debating how long Oliver should hang around Earth-38 for to assist Kara and the gang. For sure he's seeing out the events of 'Homecoming' but I'm now debating whether he should stay for 'Exodus' too, so lemme know if you guys want us to spend some more time on 38 before heading back over to Earth-1.**

 **Beyond that, please drop a review if you have anything at all to say, hearing from you guys really does motivate me to keep writing.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"They told me, but I didn't believe it."

Oliver watched in silence, arms crossed over his chest as Alex Danvers ran into her father's' arms. It was the most emotion other than anger that Oliver had seen her express since his arrival on Earth-38, and the sight couldn't help but melt his icy exterior a little as he watched the scene unfold. The crowd was a shield as Oliver watched the agents applaud, the Danvers sisters helping their father up towards the infirmary, and the eventual dispersal of the crowd.

It still wasn't sitting right with him. In his experience things like that didn't just happen, almost every time someone had 'come back from the dead' it had been bad news for everyone involved. Sara had been…confusing, Slade had been hell-bent on killing him, and Earth-2's Laurel had been a blow to his heart that Oliver still recoiled from when he thought about it. So, of course, he was glad that the sisters had their father back, he was thrilled for them, but his 10 years of training and experience had taught him to _always_ look a gift horse in the mouth.

Everything about the rescue had him on edge. For the better part of 16 years Cadmus had kept Jeremiah Danvers, their single most valuable asset, invisible, had taken every precaution in moving him and had only inadvertently (or so Supergirl and the D.E.O. were supposed to believe) revealed his existence to Supergirl during her capture. Then, for such a clumsy mistake to be made after so much meticulous planning was just…too obvious to be ignored. The warehouse they had moved Jeremiah from hadn't even been one they were monitoring, and Oliver's keen instincts knew something was wrong.

Which left Oliver with two options, at least for the time being. Either Lena Luthor had deliberately pointed them in the wrong direction, had tried to keep him from looking too closely at that warehouse, or Cadmus had let Jeremiah go intentionally. The first option wasn't all that likely, Oliver hadn't picked up anything during his interactions with Lena to suggest she had been lying to him and Kara's testimony made the C.E.O. even less likely to be guilty in his book. The second was…frightening because there could have been any number of motivations behind a tactical play like that.

With a heavy sigh, Oliver took to the stairs, following the route to the infirmary he had seen Kara and the others take. He didn't want to air his suspicious yet, not in front of everyone. Kara was the obvious choice to speak to, she had asked for his help and clearly trusted his opinions, but family was a blind spot, Oliver knew that better than most. J'onn was the next logical choice, if he could rationally present his suspicions then the Martian could easily confirm them with a little mind reading. Failing those…Oliver would go it alone, it wouldn't be the first time.

"…rotting out there in the Amazon, but…I came to at Cadmus." Oliver heard Jeremiah speak, and paused in his tracks lingering outside the room to listen to the conversation. "They saved me, so I could save Henshaw. They forced me to keep him alive, to enhance him. Physically turn him into the monster he was beneath." That would be the real Hank Henshaw, Oliver realised. Kara had managed to convince J'onn to give him access to the D.E.O. casefile log and Oliver had been doing plenty of research along with his investigation over the last week. "It is strange…seeing you in Henshaw's skin."

Oliver rounded the corner at that, looking through into the room to observe as well as listen.

"I hope I've put it to good use." J'onn responded.

"Better than he ever did." Jeremiah grinned in response, and something about it picked away at Oliver's intuition.

"But what happened after that?" Kara asked, still clad in the Supergirl uniform. "You were gone for such a long time."

"I guess I did too good a job enhancing Henshaw, 'cause Cadmus wanted me to stick around, help 'em with other projects. In the beginning, I tried to escape again and again. Bet, well, let's just say they didn't appreciate that very much."

There was something in Jeremiah's words that continued to pull at Oliver. He couldn't quite place it. Perhaps it was the way it was said, or perhaps it was the way the story seemed to be exactly what was needed to placate the Danvers sisters. The rescue was still tugging away at him, and Oliver couldn't help but to allow Jeremiah's latest testimony pile on to the doubt he was feeling.

"Oh, dad, I…"

"It's okay, by…by working with them I was helping to keep you and your sister safe."

That was one of the few things that had happened Oliver was inclined to believe. Family was family, and no matter what he struggled to see how any father could betray his own children n so wholly. Sure, both Oliver's parents had kept secrets and left behind demons, but that had been done with the best of intentions of their part, regardless of whether or not it those decisions had actually been the right call.

Swallowing heavily, Oliver took the final few steps and pushed through the door into the room, having heard enough and wanting to do a little prodding himself. The quartet turned to look at him as he entered, and Oliver crossed the infirmary towards them with slow, calculated strides. His eyes flicked from Kara to Alex, and finally to Jeremiah. Stopping at the foot of the bed on Kara's left side, Oliver scanned his eyes over the man in question, eyeing each of the wounds carefully and not being able to stop himself from feeling a small modicum of sympathy for the torture Jeremiah clearly had been through.

"Oliver Queen, of Earth-1." Jeremiah smiled at him. "J'onn tells me I've got you to thank for reuniting me with my girls."

"I did what I could," Oliver answered. "Just glad to have been able to make a difference here."

"Well, I am so lucky that you found me." Jeremiah began before turning to his daughters. "I am so lucky to be back with you two."

Oliver said nothing, not wanting to voice his doubts when the odds for support were clearly not in his favour. Alex and Kara were too emotionally compromised, and from what he understood J'onn owed his life to Jeremiah. He needed to wait, bide a little time to investigate before he made any accusations. He could, however, test the waters, make a suggestion and see how Jeremiah reacted.

"Luck is certainly one word for it." Oliver spoke clearly.

"What'd you mean?" J'onn rose to his feet, meeting Oliver's eyes.

"The warehouse Cadmus moved from today wasn't one we were investigating, not even close, yet we got an alert that they were moving equipment."

"So?" Kara spoke up. "We caught them red-handed."

"Maybe not," Oliver countered. "This might have been intentional, maybe Cadmus are trying to distract us from some other scheme."

"No, Oliver…" Kara tried.

"No, Oliver might be right. You need to keep your guard up." Jeremiah cut over her. "Because Cadmus does have a weapon."

"What is it?" Oliver questioned, arms crossing over his chest as he did.

"A nuclear fusion bomb. They're going to destroy National City and blame it on hostile aliens."

It seemed plausible, Oliver would relent to that much. It would be a reasonable distraction on Cadmus's part, to orchestrate Jeremiah's " _rescue_ " in order to distract the D.E.O. from a plan of that magnitude. Then again, given the meticulous planning on the part of the group so far, it seemed unlikely that they'd make a mistake to the degree of allowing Jeremiah to know the plan existed. Oliver had hardly spent any time at all in the presence of Jeremiah Danvers, yet already his suspicions were growing, and he hated the feeling it brought to him.

"How did Cadmus get their hands on it?" Kara asked.

"Well, they didn't steal it. They built it." Jeremiah answered, a look crossing his face Oliver couldn't quite read. "Using the radiation they mined from your heat vision when you were in their custody."

Oliver had read that file a few nights ago. Anything pertaining to Cadmus had been at the top of his list and just reading that they'd managed to capture Supergirl had piqued his interest. The information that her powers had been burnt out, and that something called Nth metal had been able to hold her, had been an education. From the look on Kara's face though, she was already blaming herself, and that was something Oliver could most definitely understand.

"Okay, so we track the bomb down." Oliver spoke up, doing his best to snap Kara out of the black hole she was about to fall into. "Something that big and that powerful is going to itself away eventually; radiation, heat spikes, something. Even if I have to hood up and put an arrow through every xenophobic lowlife in this city, we will find it."

At that Jeremiah's gaze turned to Oliver, an almost irritated look on his face.

"I take it that means you'll be sticking around for a while."

"I will." Oliver turned at that, waiting for the blonde beside him to meet his eyes before continuing. "For as long as Kara needs me."

 _XXX_

The more Oliver watched the Danvers family, the more he hated the growing suspicion. The reunion between Jeremiah and his wife had been practically heart-warming to watch, but all it did to Oliver was force him to double down on his theories. The look Jeremiah had given him on learning that he would be staying on Kara's Earth even after the rescue, coupled with everything else that had come up in the short time since was pooling towards an outcome Oliver was not looking forward to. Knowing what they had all been through Oliver really did want nothing more for the Danvers than for them to have a happy reunion, which was the reason he was really hating his inability to 'switch off' from his suspicion.

He had time, to make a play, to keep a close eye on Jeremiah Danvers, to protect Kara.

Then, she had invited him to a family dinner. Insisted that he be there with them because it was because of him that they had been lucky enough to find Jeremiah. It bothered him, the seeming insistence on normality at a time of potential crisis. Assuming Jeremiah's claims about a nuclear weapon were true, then the D.E.O.'s main operatives taking a night off to dine seemed more than a little counterproductive. If Winn's scans of the city turned something up then they would all be better off to be at the D.E.O. so that they could mobilise quickly.

Yet Oliver once again found himself outside the door to apartment _4A_. He'd agreed to Kara's request because he'd needed to, it gave him a chance to observe Jeremiah a little more closely and maybe get the chance to ask a few of the right questions. Or that was what Oliver had been telling himself as he rode his D.E.O. issue bike over to Kara's building. In reality, and what his subconscious was screaming at him, Oliver had agreed to dinner because it was Kara, and how could he say no to her? The brilliant smile and practically glistening eyes, all with that pleading voice that had told him she _really did_ want him there, that she wasn't just being polite.

So, he knocked on the door, and in the pause straightened his jacket a little. He hadn't been too sure of the dress code for the night and hadn't wanted to ask Kara. Between his upbringing as a Queen and the formality assigned to his job as the mayor, Oliver had opted for something a little more…respectable. He was clad in his favourite deep grey Armani, jacket unbuttoned, with a crisp white shirt, undone at the collar, underneath and finished with a pair of shiny black oxfords. Reflexing rolling his left wrist, Oliver watched the door swing open.

He was _definitely_ overdressed.

He shouldn't have agreed to dinner. Oliver could tell it almost immediately. Just looking at Kara caused the thoughts of the events a few nights prior fill his mind once again, and he almost couldn't suppress them quickly enough. He did, however, manage to catch the look on Kara's face, staring at him appreciatively, practically frozen in place as she did.

"Ol…Oliver," Kara managed after a few moments. "You look…"

"Overdressed?" Oliver cut over her.

With a slight shake of her head, Kara continued. "You look amazing."

"So do you." Oliver answered immediately, his mouth running ahead of his rationality for a change, and he briefly realised how Felicity felt in these situations.

It was an automatic answer, but an honest one nonetheless. Kara was different, that was blindingly obvious to anyone. She was always happy, ridiculously so, but there was a lightness that Oliver hadn't seen in her before. Even with all that happiness, there was a weight behind her eyes, one that Oliver recognised all too well, he saw it in himself, in Barry, in so many of their friends. In that moment, stood in the doorway to her apartment and looking into those brilliant blue eyes, Kara didn't just look happy, she looked free.

And to Oliver, that made her look even more beautiful.

The look on Kara's face told him all too clearly that she hadn't expected either the quickness or honesty of his reply. After the events of the previous week, the kiss that had almost been, Oliver had sworn to avoid any hint of that level of closeness and Kara had obviously noticed. It shouldn't' have been a shock to him that she wouldn't have been prepared for such a U-turn.

"I…uh…" Kara stumbled for a moment. "Thank you, Oliver."

The smile that crossed Kara's lips at that immediately spread to Oliver's own.

"Come on in." Kara beamed at him, stepping to the side so Oliver could enter the apartment.

In that moment, the struggles of the last week; the tension, the avoidance, the hiding, it all seemed to dissipate. Kara became again what she was when Oliver arrived on Earth-38, an untapped reservoir of hope and happiness, someone Oliver trusted immediately and wholly, someone he could actually be himself around.

Oliver had to deal himself a mental slap to snap himself out of that particular trail of thought. He couldn't…he wouldn't allow himself to let things with Kara develop any further. The woman was practically infectious with unending optimism and sunny personality, and it was a weakness Oliver couldn't afford. National City and Star City were different worlds in more than just the literal sense. Kara's happy-go-lucky attitude and lifestyle just wouldn't blend with Oliver's world, if his enemies were to know about Kara, it would be all too easy to exploit her naivety and trust for some sick purpose. As indestructible as Kara was, Oliver knew there would be people who would figure out how to exploit her.

Pushing all those thoughts down Oliver stepped past Kara and into her apartment, almost glad that he already knew it, as it cut away at some of the tension he was feeling. Jeremiah was at the kitchen island, preparing something with a woman he presumed was Kara's adoptive mother, and Alex was stood in the living space with someone Oliver didn't recognise at all. Oliver took in the room carefully as he walked, judging and analysing the people within it. He couldn't switch off from his instincts at the best of times, but with his concerns of Jeremiah Oliver was on extra high alert.

They all seemed happy, smiles and laughter all around that set far apart from the expectations Oliver had set for those people. It was nothing short of a miracle to him that Alex was smiling, the woman had been so cold and stubborn (far more like himself than Oliver was willing to openly admit) that he had almost thought it impossible to see her smile. The irony of that thought was completely lost on him.

Then Kara was at his side. Her arm wrapping around his and pulling him across towards where her parents stood with enough strength that Oliver knew better than to argue. As the two came to a stop before the island, two sets of eyes fixed on them.

"Eliza," Kara began with a smile. "This is Oliver Queen, he helped us bring Jeremiah home."

The older woman offered Oliver a warm smile, one that almost reminded him of his own mother, and began to walk around the island. Eliza Danvers looked to be a kind woman, she fit the most utopian image of a mother that Oliver could think of.

"Thank you," Eliza smiled, coming to a stop in front Oliver and Kara. "Our family owes you so much, Mr Queen."

"It's Oliver, please." He smiled back. "And you don't owe me a thing, Mrs Danvers, there's nothing I wouldn't do for Kara."

Once again he surprised himself with the ease at which the words slipped through his lips. Even to his own ears, it seemed strange that he focused on Kara, it wasn't the first time that his usual rhetoric about protecting and helping people had been centred on the blonde at his side.

It was John's fault.

That was what Oliver chose to tell himself. If it hadn't been for Digg's parting ' _wisdom_ ' about Kara and the good she might do for him, Oliver was almost certain that he wouldn't have been falling down that particular rabbit hole.

Pushing those thoughts down once again, Oliver noticed the wide smile that Eliza was giving him. He didn't miss the way her eyes moved between himself and Kara, and he recognised that smile too, it was one his own mother had given him once or twice when he and Laurel had first started dating.

He didn't have the time to dwell on it, however. Kara tugged lightly on Oliver's arm, pulling his attention away from her parents. Oliver was a little thankful that he already knew Kara's apartment, the familiar surroundings made him slightly more comfortable when he was faced with Alex and another woman he didn't recognise. Given his earlier interactions with Alex, Oliver had expected to see more hostility in her but she looked as happy as she had done back at the D.E.O. when they had first rescued Jeremiah.

"So, you already know Alex." Kara beamed at him. "And this is Maggie Sawyer, her girlfriend. Maggie this is Oliver Queen."

"Good to meet you." Oliver smiled, shaking the hand that was offered to him.

"Likewise, Ollie."

It was almost a struggle for him not to react to that. _No one_ called him Ollie. Since his return from the island only Tommy and Laurel had continued to use that name, and only because they still saw something of who he was before in him. _Ollie_ was the boy who died in the fires of Lian Yu, not the man who had returned from hell. Clearly, Kara had sensed the way he had tensed up, her hand still on his arm, and at the questioning look she shot him, Oliver snapped back to his more 'sociable' personality.

"So, Alex tells me you like to get dressed up in leather and punish people." Maggie spoke again, a smirk on her lips.

Besides him Kara turned bright red, her mouth hanging open a little in shock at Maggie's words. Alex was doing her best to suppress a laugh, her lips pressed into a tight line, and Oliver was certain that it was more for Kara's sake than his own. Oliver himself was a little taken aback by Maggie's boldness, but impressed by it nonetheless. Almost everyone he met sensed that he wasn't a man to be trifled with but Maggie, this fiery Latina who was all but a stranger had ignored that and quipped.

Oliver was _definitely_ more impressed than anything else.

Before any of them had a chance to say anything else, Jeremiah called out.

"Kids, margaritas are ready!"

That seemed to snap Kara out of her stupor, and she immediately took off towards the kitchen. Maggie followed suit, throwing Oliver a smug wink as she walked by him. Alex, however, lingered for a moment, the smile fading from her face as she met Oliver's eyes. Without anything needing to be said, Oliver knew what she was thinking. He could see a lot of himself in Alex; the anger at the world for taking someone she cared about, the distrust of people, the inability to admit when she was wrong. Instead of letting Alex stumble over whatever form of apology she was considering, Oliver simply offered her a nod.

"Let's get a drink." He spoke, glad that he and Alex already had a degree of silent understanding.

The agent responded with a nod of her own, and she was quickly at her girlfriend's side. Before heading to join them, Oliver took a pause to take in the family. They looked happy, happier than Oliver had seen either Kara or Alex before, but as his eyes rested on Jeremiah the doubt crept back into his mind. He couldn't help but resent himself a little for it. If he was right it would be a crushing blow for the Danvers'. If he was wrong…he'd deal with whatever embarrassment occurred if and when it did.

Shrugging the sense of dread aside, Oliver headed over to join the others, plastering on a smile as he accepted the glass of alcohol from Jeremiah. The moment he lifted the glass from the island the door swung open again.

"Sorry, I'm late." J'onn called out as he walked into the apartment.

"Ohh don't be silly J'onn." Eliza beamed as the Martian joined them.

"Oh hey," Jeremiah placed a hand of J'onn's shoulder as he spoke. "I forgot to do something earlier."

Oliver watched in silence as Jeremiah pulled J'onn into a hug. The fear of what his doubts would do to them all if they came to fruition swelling in the back of his mind once again as he observed the happy faces of those around him.

"Thank you," Jeremiah clapped J'onn on the shoulder as he separated them. "Thank you for saving my life again, thanks for keeping your promise to watch over my girls."

"It was an honour." J'onn smiled back at his old friend.

Besides him, Oliver saw Kara raising her glass.

"A toast," She paused for a second as all eyes turned to her. "To coming home."

The chorus of that sentiment moved around the room, even Oliver joining in the toast, his glass clinking against the others in the centre of the circle they had formed.

"Now, obviously," Jeremiah began solemnly. "This is going to be a time of adjustment. But I hope you'll all be patient with me. I've seen and done things that I wish I hadn't."

"Dad, don't." Alex tried to interject, but he continued unperturbed.

"No, sweetie. If I'm going to move forward, I can't ignore my past. Cadmus changed me, they tried to break me, but in the process, they made me dangerous…" Even if Oliver wasn't wholly convinced of Jeremiah's motives it was a sentiment he could understand. The resentment the older man seemed to harbour for Cadmus sounded genuine enough, and Oliver more than anyone else could understand a need for vengeance against those who'd wronged him. "I know their weaknesses, and I'm here to work with all of you to make our planet safer. So, if you'll have me, Director, I'd like to return to the DEO. Formally."

Before Oliver even had a chance to process Kara spoke up. "J'onn? Can he?"

The optimistic tone in her voice almost crushed him, knowing that he was going to have to interject soon. Oliver had been fully prepared to just observe Jeremiah until he had information and grounds to act on, but if the look on J'onn's face was any indication, the former agent was likely to pose a potentially catastrophic threat.

"Pending a full psych evaluation and a field readiness exam," J'onn answered. "We'll give you the tour tomorrow."

J'onn's acceptance was too much for Oliver. After everything he had encountered, his gut was screaming at him to do something to stop what was happening. Gritting his teeth a little, Oliver leaned down to quietly address the Kryptonian at his side.

"Kara, a word."

His tone left no room for debate. Kara didn't react too outwardly at Oliver's demand. She simply threw him a bemused look and silently guided him away from the others. Only when Kara had taken him away from the main body of her apartment and into her bedroom, did he feel comfortable enough to speak. If his mind hadn't been so preoccupied, Oliver might have taken the opportunity to study the room.

"Is everything okay?" Kara asked, still in something of a hushed voice, given the lack of walls between them and the others.

"Kara listen," Oliver began gently. "I know that you're…thrilled that Jeremiah is back…"

"Are you not?" Kara cut over him, a little less concerned about her volume. "Oliver this is why I asked you to come here, to save him."

"Right but we didn't _save_ him. He was dangled in front of us by Cadmus like a prize turkey. You wanted my help because Cadmus are smarter than that." Oliver paused, letting out a heavy sigh before continuing. "And now he's walking right back into the D.E.O., after living with our enemy for years, with not so much as a debrief?"

"Oliver, I know you're just trying to look out for me, but you need to back down, right now."

Before he had a chance to retort Kara pressed on.

"Why? Why is it so hard for you to trust this?" Kara asked, exasperated. "Barry told me you lost your father, what would you do if he walked through that door right now?"

Oliver gritted his teeth even harder, determined to put another arrow in Barry for sharing so much of his personal life with people.

"I wouldn't trust him, not for a second." Oliver bit out, a little more anger than he'd aimed for seeping into his voice. "Kara, every time someone from my past who I thought had died came back it wasn't innocent. Every single time, there was an ulterior motive, or a scheme, or a lie, because miracles like this don't just happen."

Oliver could see the frustration growing in Kara before she said a word. It was almost too easy for him to forget, not only how new Kara was to the life they both led, but how different her world was from his own. Compared to Oliver's decade of experience, Kara had been through so few of the toils that came along with the lifestyle, the consequences and the suffering that their actions brought, intentional or not.

"This is _not_ your world, Oliver." Kara snapped. "Just because so much of what has happened in your world is dark and cruel doesn't mean it's like that everywhere. That man in there is the closest thing I've had to a father since I lost Krypton, I _need_ you to give him the benefit of the doubt, and if you can't do that…" She trailed off.

"You asked me to help you because you trusted me," Oliver spoke, controlling his voice and doing his best to sound calm in one last attempt to present his doubts. "Because you trusted my gut and my instincts. I know better than anyone that family can be a blind spot but right now those instincts are telling me that we _cannot_ trust Jeremiah."

As he met Kara's eyes, Oliver knew that it hadn't worked.

"I need you to leave." Kara spoke, her voice completely level, her eyes avoiding his.

"Kara…"

"Now, Oliver."

Taking a deep breath, Oliver nodded silently, taking a few steps back towards the living room. Stopping just before rounding the corner, Oliver turned his head to look at Kara again.

"For your sake, Kara," He began in a near whisper. "I really do hope I'm wrong."

 **Author's Note: So that's not like…another 6 months I've not updated this story or anything. I'd apologise for being hopeless at keeping a schedule, but you guys really should be used to that at this stage. I seem to have got my mojo back though, so who knows, maybe I'll be able to get some real progress made on this over the next few weeks. I guess you all had better just cross your fingers and hope for the best huh?**

 **As always, please, please, please, drop a review, it honestly makes writing so much easier when I know you guys are enjoying this and still want more.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Author's Note: Guess who's back!?**

"You're kidding right?"

Oliver couldn't help but to sigh at Mon-El's tone. The Daxamite seemed to insist on being deliberately obtuse just to make things for difficult. Despite Oliver thinking he had come to at least some degree of agreement with the alien after the business with Mxyzptlk, over the week that followed Mon-El had seemingly reverted back to his original hostility.

After the... _incident_ at Kara's apartment, Oliver had decided that he wasn't going to sit back and passively allow things to unfold. Going behind Kara's back like he planned to might not have been the ideal thing to do, that much Oliver would admit, but he really didn't have a lot of other options. So, the next morning, not long before J'onn would be welcoming Jeremiah back to the D.E.O., Oliver had gathered Mon-El and Winn into the storage room that had all but become Oliver's own space.

He had expected that the two men would be at least somewhat amicable to his plans. Winn clearly cared a lot for Kara and Oliver had managed to build something of a rapport with him during the search for Cadmus, and given Mon-El's obvious feelings towards the Kryptonian Oliver was sure he would be willing to help protect her. Though, as soon as the three of them had gotten behind closed doors and Oliver had begun explaining things…well, he might have overestimated their compliance.

"Look," Oliver began sternly. "At the least, you have to agree that the timing of all this is suspicious. Kara has a blind spot when it comes to her family, she refuses to even consider the possibility that the rescue wasn't a coincidence." At the still somewhat reluctant looks on their faces, Oliver pressed on. "I'm not saying we jump in with any accusations, but at the least, we need to keep a closer eye on Jeremiah, at least until we can be sure he isn't a threat to Kara."

That seemed to have jarred something in them both. The two men took a moment, looking across at each other, and Oliver could sense the silent conversation that was occurring between them. After a few moments, they both turned back to him.

"If you were anyone else I'd think you'd been watching too much TV," Winn began. "But…I trust your gut, I know you're only doing this because you wanna look out for Kara as much as we do. We're in."

Nodding in appreciation, Oliver moved to speak, but Mon-El got there first.

"So, what's your plan?"

 _XXX_

The plan seemed to be working well enough. Oliver had given strict orders to Mon-El to not let Kara out of his sight until told otherwise, and Winn was to be on high alert for any suspicious activity on the D.E.O. mainframe. The archer himself had decided to become the second shadow of Jeremiah Danvers. Ever since he had walked into the building Oliver had been tailing him, just out of sight enough that Jeremiah had no idea, but close enough he could hear and see everything that was happening around the former-now-current agent. Thankfully, his presence at the D.E.O. over the last week had made the agents accept him as part of the furniture. Between his naturally intimidating nature and the all-access pass given to him by J'onn, no one had questioned his actions.

A part of Oliver wished that he didn't empathise with J'onn, Kara, and the others, the way they were all so keen to let Jeremiah back into their lives without questioning it at all. Reluctantly though, he had to admit that it was a natural reaction. Yet, he had done it with Black Siren, wanting so badly to believe that she was _his_ Laurel. That was his edge, Oliver concluded, he had been wronged by such similar events so many times that even his jaded worldview had a much firmer sense of confidence than usual.

Then, he had seen Jeremiah hack into the D.E.O. mainframe the second J'onn had turned his back. all those suspicions had suddenly become a lot more potent. He hadn't been able to get a look at what it was Jeremiah was looking at on the computers, the view from the doorway hadn't been ideal. Whatever it was though, Oliver could tell that Jeremiah had been wearing the look of a man who didn't want to be caught.

No soon as he'd managed to slip away, he'd gathered Winn and Mon-El back into the storage room and caught them up on the situation. Mon-El's anger had spiked immediately, and he'd shot off to find Kara the second Oliver had finished his briefing, despite the archer's protests. Biting his tongue in aggravation Oliver did his best to will his frustrations with Mon-El away before the Daxamite returned.

"Winn?" Kara's voice suddenly washed over his ears. "Mon-El said you wanted to see…"

Sucking in a breath, Oliver turned to face the Kryptonian, seeing the frustration in her face immediately. He should have expected it, but for some reason, Oliver had hoped Kara would have cooled off a little since the catastrophic end to dinner the previous night. Her endless capacity for forgiveness clearly didn't extend to people who "insulted" her family.

Oliver didn't even get a chance to speak before Kara span on her heel and started heading for the door.

"If this is what I think it is…"

She didn't get the chance to reach the door before Mon-El stopped her.

"No, no, turn around." The Daxamite took her shoulders and spun her around, gently guiding her back towards Oliver. "Back to there."

Even with the begrudging look on her face, Kara allowed Mon-El to push her back into the centre of the room. The Kryptonian stopped in front of Oliver, her glare still bearing down on him. The guilt he had been feeling since Jeremiah's rescue only doubled in the presence of Kara. He now had a legitimate concern, and breaking that news to her would be crushing. He could almost see it, just behind her eyes and even through the anger, that tiny spark of fear because Kara could already tell that he had found something.

"We found something." Oliver did his best to sound sympathetic. "I saw Jeremiah hack into the D.E.O. mainframe." He spoke slowly, doing his best to break the news as gently as he could. "I couldn't tell what he was accessing but…"

"Wait, wait, stop." Kara cut over him, her voice less firm than Oliver had expected. "Were you spying on Jeremiah? Is that why Mon-El has been following me all day? Why Winn has been acting all cagey? Did you put them up to this?"

"Kara, you're missing the point." Mon-El tried to push the conversation back in their favour.

"He actually broke into the D.E.O. systems." Winn spoke up, making a vague gesture to the data on his tablet. "It sure as hell looks like Jeremiah is spying on us."

Acceptance washed over Kara's features, her eyes drifting to meet Oliver's. He could see the gears turning behind her eyes, for once not lost in their brilliant blue as he watched everything sink into place. The concern that had been mounting since Jeremiah's rescue crashed down on top of Oliver like a tidal wave as Kara pieced together all the evidence the same way he had, albeit it so much later. In only a few moments Oliver observed Kara shift through; confusion, anger, disappointment, heartbreak, and finally back to anger, before she managed to compose herself.

Kara didn't say a word as she turned on her heel and marched back towards the door. From the looks they were sharing both Winn and Mon-El had no intentions of stopping her, so in one long stride, Oliver was at her side and lightly grabbed her arm. The Kryptonian froze in place, her head snapping around and throwing a glare at Oliver. That anger was a little too familiar to him, he saw something similar in his own eyes all too often for him to be comfortable seeing it in Kara's.

"Kara," Oliver began calmly. "If you march up there, guns blazing, and before we have all the facts it might not go our way. Do you really want to risk a fight with Alex and J'onn?"

"Oliver," Kara began with a frightening calmness. "Take your hand off me, right now."

"Do you trust me?" Oliver spoke firmly, ignoring Kara's protests.

"I said…"

"Kara." He cut over her, his tone close to the one he used when he had been scolding the recruits almost a year ago. Catching himself, Oliver softened his tone before continuing. "Do you trust me?"

Kara held Oliver's gaze for a few moments, and Oliver watched as Kara seemed to visibly cool off. The two of them stayed like that for what felt like so much longer than the few seconds it really was, but looking into each other's eyes, silently sharing a connection that neither of them fully understood, the rest of the world may have well not existed to them. In her eyes, Oliver saw recognition and resignation. The acceptance of all that had happened, the disappointment it brought, Oliver felt his heart shatter for Kara at that. Then, Kara let out a shaky breath.

"I do." Kara spoke in a whisper. "I trust you, Oliver, completely."

 _XXX_

Kara was surprised by how little she felt following Oliver's revelation about Jeremiah. She had expected to be bubbling with rage and betrayal for days, that she wouldn't be able to focus on anything but what Jeremiah had done to her, and to their family. Instead, she just felt…numb. It was only thanks to Oliver that she hadn't immediately stormed up to Jeremiah the moment that she found out he had hacked into the D.E.O. mainframe, that she had given herself enough time to reach the numbness. As terrible as it felt, Kara supposed it was better than the raw anger she had expected.

Even with the time and levelheadedness that they had, there was still nothing concrete that Winn could find on further investigation. Oliver had insisted that they have access to as much information as possible before confronting Jeremiah, that the more evidence they had the less chance Jeremiah would have to talk his way out of it. That hadn't turned up anything. The three of them, Mon-El had set off to make sure Jeremiah didn't stumble onto them, had sat in that storage room for over an hour while Winn worked away at the D.E.O. systems, only able to prove that Jeremiah had accessed a few case files pertaining to Supergirl and Agent Danvers.

Beyond that there was nothing. Kara had almost hoped that her doubts about Jeremiah would be dissuaded by that revelation, but it had done nothing. If Jeremiah could hack into the D.E.O. mainframe then he could easily hide what he had been doing with that access. Thanks to Oliver she saw clearly, her feelings for her family no longer clouded her judgment.

Then Alex had stumbled into the locker room, looking for Kara, and she hadn't been able to lie to her sister, despite the pleading look Oliver had given her.

She had told Alex everything. Oliver's doubts, what he had seen Jeremiah do, Winn's confirmation that he had successfully broken the D.E.O.'s encryption. Once she had started she couldn't stop.

"I know." Alex answered, her face an unreadable mask. "He told me and J'onn earlier. The access codes had changed so he just did a workaround."

Kara paled, Jeremiah must have realised that they were onto him and come clean to Alex before she and Oliver could react. She glanced across to Oliver, seeing the sympathy in his eyes, they both already knew where the conversation was going. Kara supposed it was easier for her, to see the doubt Jeremiah had cast, while she might have viewed him as a father figure he wasn't her blood. It was different for Alex, Jeremiah had been such a colossal part of her life that words couldn't describe, but then to lose him the way that they did must have been to Alex what the loss of Krypton had been for Kara. She had watched as Alex struggled to come to grips with the fact that Jeremiah was still alive, seen her abandon everything to try and find him. She should have known her sister would never have been able to accept the truth.

Alex spoke again, glaring at Oliver and Winn. "You two are unbelievable." She turned her attention to Kara. "But you are something else."

"Alex," Kara moved towards her sister before she could leave. "I am just as hurt, an…and scared as you are, I share the same feelings, but I also see clearly now. Jeremiah was with Cadmus a long time and we have never faced an enemy more dangerous, so we owe it to ourselves to look at every angle. Even if it makes us uncomfortable."

"You sound just like him." Alex didn't even hesitate before she answered, glaring across at Oliver. "You know I could almost understand you being in the honeymoon phase with your boyfriend from another world, but you don't have to take his side against your own family like some lovelorn school girl."

"Hey!" Oliver's voice cut across the room before Kara could even formulate her reply. Within a moment, Oliver was by her side, and Kara could almost have sworn that she saw him move to take her hand before hesitating. "This is not about me, or you, or Kara. It's about the truth. And the truth is that Jeremiah lived with your enemy for years, and even you have to admit that him breaking into the D.E.O. mainframe is at the least suspicious."

Alex's glare only intensified at Oliver's interference. "I know _you_ might not understand this, but he missed out on over a decade as _our_ father." Alex gestured between herself and Kara at that, telling Oliver firmly that their argument did not involve him. When the archer didn't react, Alex turned her focus back to Kara. "I don't blame him for wanting to catch up, however he can."

"Then why not just ask us," Kara attempted. "We're right here. He spent an hour with J'onn today, w…why does he have to wait until he's alone to access the system?"

"You really don't trust him, do you?" Alex scowled.

"No." Kara asserted firmly. "I don't trust Cadmus. And I will do what I have to do to protect us."

Alex sighed lowly. "Well, then I guess you've chosen your side." With that, the agent turned her back and headed towards the door.

Kara threw an exasperated glance at Oliver before trying to reach her sister one last time.

"This is not about sides."

Alex whirled around immediately. "No, it is. Because you're either part of the family or you're not."

Oliver saw the heartbreak in Kara's eyes at Alex's words, and once again he had to fight the urge to capture her hand in his own.

"You don't mean that." Kara's voice lost the edge it had held until then.

"He's my father."

"He's mine too."

"Then act like it!" Alex raised her voice for the first time, and Kara recoiled a little at it.

Stunned by her sister's words, Kara did nothing as Alex turned on her heel and left the room in a hurry. The cold sting of what she had said lingered much longer.

 _XXX_

"How are you holding up?"

Kara looked up from the Kryptonian tailor-made training dummy she had been attacking relentlessly. She didn't need to look up to know who it was, she had recognised his voice immediately. Kara dimly wondered if Oliver had that effect on everyone or just her. Ignoring that thought, Kara briefly met Oliver's eyes over the dummy before returning to attacking it.

If Jeremiah's betrayal had made her feel numb, her fight with Alex had been heart-breaking. She hadn't expected Alex to be as easily convinced as Winn or Mon-El, but she had thought that after everything they had been through together that Alex would have believed her. Instead, her sister had put her suspicious down to Oliver, blaming him for Kara's apparent lack of trust in her family. It was a bitter insult, that Alex really believed that she would turn against her family just because of some crush. Kara hadn't even realised that Alex had noticed her affections for Oliver, but she certainly hadn't expected to be called out on them like that. Even so, whatever she felt for Oliver had no bearing on her concerns about Jeremiah. She had looked at the evidence and made her own decision. Of course, Oliver had been the one to guide her, to help her, but that didn't make it his fault.

"That bad, huh?" Oliver spoke again, taking a few steps closer, his ever observant eyes watching as she ruthlessly pounded the dummy. "I've been there, Kara, and the one thing I've learned is that you can't blame yourself."

Her anger intensified, and one particularly heavy punch took a chunk out of the training dummy.

"I don't blame myself." Kara ground out, turning to face Oliver. "I blame Cadmus. For stealing Jeremiah, for breaking my family apart, for taking away my sister's trust in me."

With each word Kara had taken a step towards Oliver, the two merely inches apart when Kara came to a stop. Oliver could feel the rage emanating from her, the anger, the betrayal, the heartbreak, he recognised it a little too well. That rage needed to be directed, focused, harnessed. It was how Oliver did what he did, by focusing that darkness within him, forging it into his crusade. From the raw look in her eyes, Oliver could tell that Kara hadn't felt that level of rage before.

"Kara," Oliver's tone sympathetic yet firm. "We _are_ going to stop them. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost. I swear to you, I'll make them pay." Without his realising, Oliver had captured Kara hands in his own while he spoke.

The Kryptonian stared at their joined hands for a moment before looking up and meeting Oliver's eyes.

"How do you do it?" Kara asked before Oliver could respond she pressed on. "How do you feel like this and go on?"

Swallowing hard, Oliver answered. "Because it's the duty of the strong to protect the weak. This life, Kara, it…it scrapes away little pieces of your soul, one loss at a time, but we keep going because we have to."

It was another one of those moments, the ones he and Kara seemed to share all too often. One of those times where words failed them and just the presence of the other was enough. Enough to answer all those questions, disperse all those doubts, to make the whole world seem so much simpler than the complicated mess they both knew it to be.

Then, the moment was shattered.

" _Guys,_ " Winn's voice came over the P.A. system. " _We've tracked down Supergirl's radiation signature. Cadmus is moving the bomb._ "

Kara sighed a little and Oliver separated their hands.

"Time to go to work." Oliver smiled grimly


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

D.E.O. mission control was already bustling with activity by the time Kara and Oliver arrived there. Both Alex and J'onn gave the two cold looks, but Jeremiah fixed Oliver with a glare that the archer could read all too well. It was a look not all too dissimilar from the one that Oliver used to direct at Thea's boyfriends, one that told him Jeremiah was blaming Oliver for corrupting his daughter and for taking her from him. Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver recognised Mon-El giving him a not all too different glare, one that had jealousy written all over it.

J'onn's briefing didn't take long. It was a pretty simple play, Oliver noted. A strike team, led by Supergirl, Mon-El, and Agent Danvers, to secure the bomb and take down any and all Cadmus personnel on site. Jeremiah would remain onsite at the D.E.O. and direct the disarming of the bomb remotely. Then, J'onn turned his attention to Oliver.

"Mr. Queen, I might not be fond of you operating in this city, but this is an all hands on deck situation. I'd like you to accompany Supergirl and the strike team to secure the bomb."

Oliver met Kara's eyes, briefly amused to see that she seemed content with that suggestion. They only held each other's gaze for a second, but Kara seemed to recognise what was going through Oliver's mind immediately.

"I appreciate the offer, Director J'onzz." Oliver opted for formality given that he knew he had already pissed off the Martian once that day. "But I still have my doubts about this bomb threat. If it is a diversion I want to be able to deploy as quickly as possible to the real threat."

J'onn didn't seem all too pleased at Oliver's decision, but he said nothing before turning his attention back to his agents.

"You've all got your orders. Move out!"

Kara met his eyes once again as she moved with the other agents headed into the field, and Oliver offered her a reassuring nod. He could see in her eyes that she had the same doubts as him. The bomb threat appearing less than an hour after Kara's fight with Alex couldn't have been a coincidence. The elder Danvers sister must have told Jeremiah, and the bomb threat appearing so suddenly had to be a distraction. The threatening look that Jeremiah gave Oliver as soon as everyone else's backs were turned confirmed that suspicion.

 _XXX_

The strike team reached the location of the radiation signature in minutes, in which time Oliver had changed into his work clothes once again. Quiver on his back and bow in his hand, Oliver felt much more in control as he stood beside J'onn watching the feeds from the agent's body cams.

" _Alright, I'm in position_." Alex's voice came over the radio. " _Dad are you there?"_

"Right here, Alex." Jeremiah confirmed.

" _Okay, standing by for your instructions once we get inside._ "

"Be careful," Jeremiah played the part of the concerned father a little too well, and Oliver felt his doubts about the bomb threat grow once again. "Anything happens to that bomb before you disarm it, the whole city could go."

" _Nothing's going to happen._ " Alex assured them.

"Let's stop them once and for all girls."

Oliver watched, hand tensing around his bow as Supergirl stepped forward, standing before the entrance to the building.

" _Ready when you are, J'onn._ " Kara spoke once she stopped.

"On my mark," The Martian said, his gaze intent over the body-cam footage. "3…2…1…Engage."

The video feed turned white for a split second as Supergirl's heat vision blasted through the rolling door and the agents flooded into the warehouse. It didn't take long for the agents to sweep the building, the chorus of " _clear"_ coming through the radio feed in no way a surprise to Oliver. To Jeremiah's credit, Oliver noted, he did appear a little shocked by the absence of the bomb, but Oliver was confident in Jeremiah's acting abilities.

" _Something's not right._ " Supergirl's voice came over the radio.

" _J'onn, please advise. There's no sign of the target._ " Alex spoke.

Oliver turned his attention to Jeremiah immediately. The older man was already backing away from the mission control area. Before Oliver could even speak up Jeremiah was crossing the room and heading for the elevator bank, as Alex's voice continued to question the situation from over the radio. Jeremiah caught J'onn's attention next, and the Martian moved in step with Oliver as they followed Jeremiah.

"What's going on?" J'onn questioned with a growl in his throat.

Oliver almost went to draw his bow but hesitated, reluctant as he was to do so, he opted to follow J'onn's lead.

"Why can't I read your mind?" The Martian growled as the elevator doors slid shut, and Jeremiah disappeared from view.

Both J'onn and Oliver growled in frustration, the Martian giving the archer a somewhat apologetic look before phasing through the ground. Oliver didn't let the surprise at J'onn's sudden new ability shake him, instead focusing on catching up to them.

"Winn, where is he?" Oliver shouted across as he called another lift.

"Floor 23, the server room!"

Oliver didn't hesitate before jumping into the elevator and taking off after Jeremiah and J'onn. As soon as the lift pinged to a stop, Oliver ran out, heading down the corridor he knew led to the room where he had seen Jeremiah breaking into the D.E.O. systems but a few hours earlier. No soon as he turned the last corner, he saw J'onn breaking through the doors to the server room, colliding with the far wall in a shower of glass.

Moving as quickly as he could towards the Martian, Oliver slammed the button marked ' _Lockdown_ ' on the wall, the corridor turning red with flashing lights and the blaring of the alarm filling his ears. Oliver didn't have time to make it to J'onn's side before Jeremiah walked from the server room. He immediately moved to draw an arrow, but Oliver's hand didn't even reach his quiver before Jeremiah had grabbed him by the throat and lifted him towards the ceiling.

"What are you?" Oliver choked out.

He hadn't expected a reply, and Oliver's hand flew to his quiver, gripping the first arrow he could find and jamming it into Jeremiah's other arm. Whatever granted Jeremiah such strength in one arm clearly didn't extend to the other, and the older man dropped Oliver with a grunt of pain. Oliver's drop to the floor was particularly ungraceful, the archer landing on his back with a grunt. As he came to his senses, Oliver watched on helplessly as Jeremiah deflected a hail of bullets and then attacked two D.E.O. agents with his enhanced-arm. Once the agents were down, Jeremiah retreated back into the server room.

Scrambling to his feet, Oliver moved to J'onn's side.

"J'onn!" Oliver gripped him by his shoulder, and the Martian grunted into consciousness. "Can you stand?"

J'onn was quick to his feet, rage in his eyes. "I can fight."

Before Oliver could blink, J'onn had taken off after Jeremiah.

"What have you done!" He shouted as he entered the room.

"J'onn, please, stay down." Jeremiah pleaded as Oliver came up beside J'onn. "I don't want to hurt you any more than I have."

"He asked you a question!" Oliver growled as the drew an arrow.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" J'onn bellowed.

"What I had to!" Jeremiah shouted back.

It was then J'onn noticed the mechanisms that made up Jeremiah's right arm, visible through the bullet-torn fabric of his shirt.

"Oliver was right." J'onn roared. "You are a Cadmus man!"

"J'onn, please, it's not the whole story."

"We will _not_ let you leave." J'onn transformed as he spoke, and Oliver had to fight his shock at the revelation of the Martian's true form.

"You don't have a choice."

J'onn leapt forward before Oliver could fire off an arrow, the narrow room limiting his option for attack. Oliver held his ground, bow drawn as the former friends fought, waiting for a clear shot at the traitor. It wasn't until J'onn was knocked back against one of the servers that Oliver could leap into action. He let his first arrow fly, the sharpened projectile burying itself into Jeremiah's non-enhanced shoulder, then he charged. He knew he couldn't beat Jeremiah in a straight up brawl, Oliver had seen the power of that enhanced arm level a Martian, but Oliver had no intention of brawling as J'onn had.

Not blinded by his anger, Oliver focused his training, skills he knew Jeremiah Danvers didn't have, to orchestrate their fight. He carefully blocked attacks from the enhanced arm with the reinforced materials of his bow, and his fits made connections with the soft tissues of Jeremiah's gut several times over. As they fought, Oliver caught glimpses of the computer bank, of a device attached to one of the monitors, Jeremiah was downloading something from the D.E.O. database. Then, Jeremiah swung his enchanted arm overhead, bringing it down heavily on Oliver, forcing him into a defensive position as he used his bow to push back against Jeremiah's enhanced strength with everything he had.

"This is on you," Jeremiah snarled. "You turned my Kara against me, made them doubt me. You forced our hand."

"You brought this on yourself." Oliver ground out, feeling his strength waning. "But I am going to stop you."

Oliver bow creaked under the strain of Jeremiah's super-strength and Oliver could see what was about to happen before it did. The sound of shattering metal rang out as the core of the bow split in two, and Oliver was forced to take a step back to avoid the enhanced limb from connecting with him. Knowing he had little time left before his aching muscles gave out under the pressure of super strength, Oliver kicked out at Jeremiah, his heel connecting with the older man's shin and sending him staggering back a few paces. With the brief window he had created for himself, Oliver reached into his quiver and grabbed an arrow, throwing it like a dart at the computer bank. The head of the arrow buried itself into the fragile screen of the nearest computer monitor before the explosive payload detonated, tearing the databank to shreds. As soon as he turned back to Jeremiah, Oliver knew it was too late. The Cadmus agent was on top of him, his enhanced fist flying towards him.

Oliver didn't even feel the blow connect before his vision went black.

 _XXX_

Kara had rushed the strike team back to the D.E.O. as soon as the coms had gone quiet. When they arrived back though, she knew they were too late. Most of the agents wouldn't look her or Alex in the eye, only one of them had directed the sisters to the med-bay. As soon as they walked in the damage was clear.

Winn was sat in one of the chairs, looking on glumly at Oliver and J'onn who were laid up in bed. J'onn looked more worse for wear than Oliver, the Martian's face was covered in bruises and cuts that were quickly healing thanks to his powers.

Kara quickly moved to the other bed where Oliver lay, still in his Green Arrow uniform, not a cut or bruise visible on his face. Looking up to the monitors, Kara briefly wished that she paid more attention to Alex so that she knew what any of the information displayed there meant. She turned her attention to Oliver himself, her x-ray vision allowing her to scan over his wounds. The damage didn't seem too bad, especially compared to J'onn, the bruises that were forming were serious and Kara knew it would take some time for him to recover, but it seemed Oliver had gotten off lightly. If he had been injured the same way as J'onn, Oliver might not have recovered.

"What happened?" Alex's voice snapped Kara from her thoughts.

"Jeremiah, he…he got the jump on them." Winn answered as he walked towards the sisters.

"He couldn't have." Alex argued.

Kara couldn't help but feel sorry for her sister. Alex wanted so badly to believe that her father hadn't been changed by the near two decades he had spent in Cadmus custody, even with the evidence right in front of her, she still didn't want to see the truth. It was almost painful for Kara to watch as Alex went through the same torrent of emotions that Kara herself had felt earlier that day.

"Hey, look, even if my dad has turned there is no way he could have overpowered J'onn." Alex finished.

"Yeah. That's what I would have thought." J'onn groaned as he slipped back into consciousness.

"Oh, thank Rao you're okay." Kara sighed, moving from Oliver's bedside to J'onn's.

"Jeremiah's arm, the one we thought had nerve damage, it's been enhanced. Cybernetically." J'onn told them, visibly fighting his pain with every word.

"Like Hank Henshaw?" Kara asked, feeling the rage bubbling inside her again.

"Jeremiah isn't who he was. I'm sorry." J'onn continued sadly, knowing what the revelation would do to Alex.

Kara watched as Alex's whole visage shifted. Her sister visibly went through what Kara remembered going through when Oliver had explained the truth to her. The disappointment, the betrayal, the anger, it was all there.

"Not as sorry as Cadmus is going to be." Alex bit out.

"We'll find him." Kara assured her.

"I might be able to help with that." Another voice groaned, and Kara wheeled around to see Oliver groggily returning to consciousness.

"Oliver," Kara breathed, rushing to his side, her hand slipping into his instantly. "Are you okay?"

The archer grunted with something of a smile on his lips. "I've had worse beatings, I'm just sorry I couldn't stop him."

"No, no it's not your fault." Kara reassured him. "We didn't know he'd been enhanced like that."

Alex was quickly by Kara's side, sharing none of the sympathy or concern that her sister showed.

"You said you could help find him." Alex spoke firmly. "How?"

"I tagged him with tracking nanites." Oliver gestured towards the quiver that sat on the floor beside his bed. "You can get the frequency from the other tracer arrow in my quiver."

Alex nodded her thanks and dashed to Oliver's quiver, searching through it for the arrow in question.

"Thank you, Oliver." Alex finally found the arrow in question and headed from the room to track down the signal.

"We'll find him." Kara assured Oliver and moved to follow her sister.

Kara had hardly turned her back when she heard Oliver grunting in pain, and she spun around to see him struggling to get up from his bed.

"Oliver, what are you doing?" Kara rushed back to his side and began to push him back into bed.

"I can't let you do this on your own." Oliver grunted as he tried to fight to his feet.

Kara felt a surge of adoration for Oliver in that moment. Even beaten and injured, he wanted to fight, he wanted to help her. Kara took his hand in her own once again and squeezed it lightly.

"Oliver, you don't need to do this," Kara pressed. "You've done so much already, you need to stay here and recover."

"Can't…do nothing." Oliver ground out as he once again tried to get up, but Kara easily pushed him down.

"Stay here." She spoke far more firmly that time. "We'll be back before you know it."

Reluctantly, Kara let go of Oliver's hand and moved to follow her sister, giving Winn a pointed look that told him it was his job to keep Oliver in bed.

Cadmus was going to pay.

 _XXX_

The next time Oliver awoke it was closer to sunrise than sunset, and he felt heavy grogginess throughout his body. It took a while for him to fully adjust but he recalled everything that had happened. After Kara had taken off after Alex he had tried to follow them, and Winn had gotten one of the D.E.O. doctors to sedate him. He hated that Winn had done that to him, but with the benefit of rest and a clear head, Oliver didn't hold it against him. Feeling better for his time in bed, Oliver dragged himself to his feet, realising that he was still clad in his Green Arrow suit, and headed towards the exit to the med bay. He spared a glance towards the bed beside his own, seeing that J'onn was no longer in it.

Moving still felt difficult, and the pain in his chest from Jeremiah's knockout punch still reverberated through him. Forcing the pain down, Oliver headed for the mission control area, where he could see J'onn standing over various screens of information.

"J'onn." Even speaking seemed heavy to him at that moment as the Martian turned to face him.

As soon as J'onn met his eyes Oliver knew what had happened. Jeremiah had escaped. The sad look in J'onn's eyes was one Oliver knew, it wasn't sadness for himself, but for Kara and Alex, the women he considered daughters of his own.

"How are they holding up?" Oliver asked.

J'onn sighed heavily before answering. "Alex is strong, and she's got Maggie, but Kara…she shouldn't be alone right now."

Oliver didn't need to be told twice. Moving quicker than he probably should have done giving the aching sensation throughout his body Oliver headed to the storage room, swapping his suit from the first pair of casual clothes he came across, then down to the D.E.O. garage, climbing onto his loaned motorcycle and heading into the streets. The route to Kara's apartment was burned into his brain, but with the empty streets and his need to get to Kara, Oliver pushed the limits of both his bike and his reflexes. The wind bore down onto him, without his suit the cold night air bit into him, even with the added protection of a leather jacket.

The journey to Kara's apartment was thankfully short, and in minutes after his departure from the D.E.O. Oliver was knocking on the door to _4A_.

"It's open." He heard Kara's voice weakly through the door.

With a heavy sigh, Oliver walked inside, pushing the door shut and locking it behind him. Kara was curled up on her sofa, draped in a blanket, her face blushed red and stained with tears. She didn't look up at him as Oliver moved closer, he supposed that was because she already knew it was him, Winn had once told him that Kara memorised the heartbeats of the people she cared about.

"Hey." Oliver spoke softly as he approached the sofa and fully took in Kara's form. "J'onn told me what happened, I…I am so sorry Kara. I promised I'd help you find your father and…"

Kara finally looked up to him then and meeting her eyes broke Oliver's heart. There was a level of pain in them, one Oliver had never let himself feel through his anger, a vulnerability that Oliver refused to admit to. And there was Kara, strong, brave, incorruptible Kara, showing him that maybe letting himself feel like that didn't mean the end of the world.

With a resigned sigh, Oliver moved to sit on the end of the sofa, the space free as Kara had curled up into herself. Thankful to be off his feet, Oliver ran a hand through his stubble searching for the right words.

"I know that there's nothing I can say, so…I'm going to listen." Oliver continued, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. "What do you need?"

"Just…" Kara sucked in a heavy breath. "Be here with me."

"Okay." Oliver whispered, leaning back on the sofa, and picking up the blanket. "Come here."

Kara looked across to him for a moment, her eyes searching his for confirmation, and then began to move. Shifting both herself and the blanket, Kara moved so she was curled up against Oliver's side, her arm across his chest and her head pressed into his shoulder. Her grip around Oliver tightened as Kara let out another sob, and Oliver's own arms curled around her at that, pulling her into him, as if he could just hold her close enough then all that pain would go away. As Oliver's hand began to stroke up and down her back, Kara looked up at him, once again meeting his eyes.

Oliver saw it then; what Kara had been looking for a moment ago. She wanted to know if he still felt what they both had felt almost a week prior, the kiss that had almost been, the raw emotion they both had felt. She wanted to know if he was just feeling sorry for her or if he really did care. Oliver leant down, almost ready to give in and admit to her everything, but he knew it wasn't right. Instead, he caught himself and pressed his lips to the top of her head. Meeting her eyes again, he saw an understanding in then, and Kara dropped her head back down to curl up against him again.

They hardly had a moment to enjoy the others embrace before Kara's phone began to ring. Oliver looked to it immediately, seeing it sat on the coffee table that ran parallel to the sofa.

 _Winn._

"Kara, you don't have to…"

She ignored him and grabbed the phone without hesitation.

"Winn. Did you figure out what Jeremiah stole from the D.E.O. computers?"

Oliver couldn't hear his answer, but from the shift he saw in Kara's eyes, it couldn't have been good news.

"Okay," Kara answered. "We're coming in."

As soon as Kara put the phone back down, Oliver placed a hand on her back, slowing her down.

"Kara, what happened?"

She turned back to him, the sorrow in her eyes replaced with purpose. "Cadmus has a list of all the alien's in the country."

"So, what do we do?" Oliver already knew the answer.

"We get up." Kara answered bravely as she got to her feet, heading for her room to change into her uniform.

"That's my girl."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Three days.

That was all it had been. Three days since Cadmus stole the National Alien Registry. Three days since the betrayal of Jeremiah Danvers. Three days in which near twenty aliens had been kidnapped. Three days since Oliver and Kara had let themselves connect to each other in their grief.

Three days and Oliver kept feeling his frustration grow.

He knew blaming himself for the theft of the registry was wrong. He had done everything in his power, but Jeremiah had been a tougher fight than he had expected. He had destroyed the D.E.O. computer in an attempt to prevent the theft of the files, but he wasn't quick enough. He had promised Kara that he would return her father to her, he had accomplished that mission, but he only brought more pain to her. That thought had rattled around in his mind non-stop for three days. It was irrational, Oliver could practically hear the scolding Digg would give him if he admitted to it, but it still played on him. Knowing that it was irrational frustrated him even more.

Plus, his bow had been destroyed in his fight with Jeremiah. That pissed him off too.

With all the abductions and the D.E.O. not making any progress tracking down Cadmus or any of their people, Oliver had volunteered to hit the streets to get information. With J'onn's grumbled assent, Oliver headed into the storage room he had claimed as his own to gear up for a night of interrogating low lives. He had a small arsenal in the bag he had brought with him, including a spare bow. It wasn't ideal, it wasn't alike to his old bow, which meant he had to adjust to the whole new weapon. His bow was an extension of himself, not just a weapon but an extra limb. Learning a new bow was always…a particular experience.

"Oliver." The archer stopped his actions and turned on the spot to see Kara bounding up to him, clad in her Supergirl suit and a grin on her face. "Before you head out, I need to show you something."

"Alright," Oliver smiled, noting the large case in her hand. "Let's see what you've got."

With a beaming smile on her lips, Kara stepped forward and placed the case on the table. Oliver watched silently as Kara popped the clasps on the body of the case and then stepped back, gesturing for Oliver to open it. Not questioning Kara's peculiar secrecy over the contents of the case, Oliver moved to the table and lifted the case open. Inside, was a fresh bow almost identical to his broken one. With a bewildered smile on his lips, Oliver reached out, taking the bow in his left hand and getting a feel for it.

"I kinda felt guilty about Jeremiah wrecking your bow, so I had Winn work this up for you," Kara beamed, looking on with glee as Oliver experimented with the new bow. "It's an Nth Metal/carbon fibre hybrid," At Oliver's slightly bemused looked at the mention of the metal Kara elaborated. "Nth metal comes from a planet called Thanagar, it's a few hundred times stronger than steel. The bow isn't pure Nth metal, so it's not indestructible, but it'll hold up a lot better than your old one."

Oliver stopped in his inspection of the bow and turned his attention to Kara, stunned by what she had done. Sure, Winn had put the bow together and Oliver would thank him profusely for it, but Kara had decided that she wanted to gift him something. She blamed _herself_ for Jeremiah destroying his old bow and decided to have a new one made for him.

"How does it feel?"

Oliver held up the bow a little, testing the drawstring lightly before turning back to Kara, his grin as wide as her own.

"It's perfect."

Somehow, Kara lit up even more, grinning like a Cheshire cat. To Oliver, it seemed like her smile made the whole room glow a little brighter. Kara was infectious. All Oliver could hear as he looked at the beaming Kryptonian was Diggle's voice, encouraging him to take a leap, put his faith in Kara.

 _Damn you, Diggle._

"Really?" Kara took a step closer to him. "You're not just being nice?"

Oliver couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Me? Nice? I thought you knew me better than that, Kara."

Teasingly punching Oliver on the arm, Kara matched the sly grin that had slipped over his lips. "I know you well enough to know that you're not as broody as you'd like everyone to believe."

"Yeah well, even so…" Oliver held up the bow for a moment pridefully before letting it drop back to his side. "It really is perfect." Enjoying Kara's smile for one more moment Oliver continued. "Why don't we hit the streets and I'll give it a real test run?"

 _XXX_

"That's the twentieth abduction since Cadmus got the alien registry." Kara huffed as she looked at the screens at D.E.O. mission control.

"Plus, they seem to be escalating, these abductions are getting more aggressive." Oliver noted as Kara paced back to stand beside him.

They still had nothing. Twenty abductions marked almost 40 aliens gone missing, and Cadmus seemed to show no discrimination. There was no preference in their targets; families, lone wolves, it didn't matter. Cadmus was just working their way down the list as quickly as they could. Oliver's frustrations were only growing.

"Are we any closer to finding out where Cadmus is taking them?" J'onn questioned, his attention turned to Winn.

"Or what they want." Mon-El addressed that question to no one in particular. "Because that is the trillion dollar question."

"It's million dollar question, buddy." Winn corrected the Daxamite as Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Really? That low?" The Daxamite responded and Oliver had to fight the urge to roll his eyes again.

"Yes, and um, 'no' on all accounts." Winn continued. "I've monitored traffic cams, sat feeds, cell phone chatter, uh…maybe Jeremiah taught them how to avoid our radar?"

Oliver felt Kara tense beside him at that. Even if she had come to an... understanding of Jeremiah's betrayal every time it was brought up it was like having the wound opened again. She hadn't shown it, that much Oliver could give her credit for. Since that night in her apartment, Kara had seemingly refused to give in to the temptation to let her emotion consumer her. It had given her a clarity, a focus, a drive that Oliver hadn't seen her show before. Betrayal was a powerful motivator; Oliver knew that better than most.

"From now on, Jeremiah Danvers is an enemy combatant." J'onn announced to the room.

"What does that mean?" Mon-El spoke again, and Oliver huffed a little at the Daxamite's need to have everything explained to him.

"It means, if found, he's to be arrested on sight." J'onn answered, his eyes flicking across to Alex. "That's not a problem is it?"

Oliver couldn't help but empathise with the torment he saw behind Alex's eyes in that moment. He had yet to address the issue of Jeremiah's betrayal with her, unsure of his standing with the agent following her argument with Kara a few days prior. When he had aided in Jeremiah's rescue, the two had shared an...understanding, but nothing had come of it. They still hadn't spoken so much as a few words to each other without Kara heavily nudging them. Regrettably, Oliver knew he needed to talk to her; if anyone on Earth-38 understood what Alex was suffering through, it was him. He owed it to Alex, Oliver supposed, to help her see through the crucible she had found herself in. It wasn't just Oliver that could sense the tension emanating from Alex though, both J'onn and Kara were giving her looks of concern.

"Of course not." The words fell heavily from Alex.

"Good." J'onn replied.

"We have to let all these aliens know." Kara spoke up, shifting the focus from Jeremiah. "They need to be able to protect themselves."

"I volunteer to tell everyone at the alien dive bar." Mon-El practically jumped to his feet and Oliver felt his hand clench a little tighter around his new bow in frustration.

A threat levelled to every single alien in National City and beyond, and Mon-El's first thought was to go to the nearest bar. Oliver couldn't fight the tug of irritation he felt at the Daxamite's words. Somehow the goodwill Mon-El had earned himself with Oliver over his stay on Earth-38 had burned away during the course of the hunt for the alien registry. At every turn, Mon-El had said the wrong words, done the wrong thing, and his latest desire to run straight to a bar at the first opportunity was just icing on the cake. Honestly, it Oliver a little too much of his pre-island self.

"Just telling the aliens that frequent one bar in a backstreet of National City isn't going to do any good." Oliver cut over the room. "Is there any way to get this out nationwide? Could the D.E.O. issue some sort of statement? Get the president to make an announcement?"

"Even if we could convince President Marsdin to make the announcement there's no way to announce the theft of the registry without compromising the D.E.O. We're off the books for a reason." J'onn answered.

"And if we did it anonymously no one would take it seriously." Oliver noted, J'onn nodding in agreement.

"But they might listen to CatCo." Kara brightened up. "I'll write an article and get it on the front page."

"You think Snapper would run that?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, of course. Absolutely." Kara answered, clearly a little unsure.

With a swish of her cape, Kara bounded from the room. Hands still clasped pensively behind his back, Oliver watched Kara headed to the balcony and took off from the D.E.O., presumably heading straight for CatCo. Mon-El filtered out a moment later, Oliver not giving him a second thought as he turned to J'onn and Alex.

"We need to have a backup plan in case Kara's article doesn't get any traction." Oliver addressed them. "The D.E.O. might not be able to go public but is there any way of bringing the remaining aliens on the list into protective custody?"

J'onn considered that idea for a few moments, eyes drifting as he thought it over. "It's a possibility but moving that many aliens at once could draw attention, as well as creating a potential target for Cadmus. But as a last resort, it could work."

"So long as we have options." Oliver nodded.

With that, J'onn headed off to do whatever it was the day to day running of the D.E.O. entailed. All the time he had been in National City Oliver had always had something pointed to do, a directive to follow, a threat to fight, or a lead to chase. The trail for Cadmus had run cold, there was nothing for him to do until the sun set and he could hit the streets once again. Oliver had to fight down a huff of irritation at that thought. Ever since Jeremiah Danvers had escaped the D.E.O. the low lives that sympathised with Cadmus had become a lot more tight-lipped. During the search for Jeremiah, Oliver had been able to at least shake a few things loose from the xenophobic scum that slinked around National City's dark alleys. Since the abductions had started though, he had managed nothing, no matter how pointed his threats or how painful his attacks, no one was talking.

"Queen." A voice snapped Oliver from his thoughts, and he looked up to see Alex hovering a few steps away from him. "A few of us are hitting up the alien bar tonight, let loose a little, if you wanted to join us for a drink?"

Oliver shrugged of his immediate response to want to smile a little at the awkward way Alex was holding herself. He didn't need to know Alex well to know that the woman wasn't one to easily admit she was wrong, he saw too much of himself in Alex for that. Clearly though, after everything with Jeremiah she was offering him an olive branch, and Oliver regretted that he knew he had to turn it down.

"I appreciate the offer, Alex, but I should be out there tonight on patrol," Oliver answered sincerely. "Besides, I'm not really one to…let loose anyway."

Alex chuckled a little at that. "You and me both." The agent lingered for a moment before continuing. "I'll get Winn to give you the address, in case you change your mind."

With that, Alex turned on her heel and headed from the room before Oliver had a chance to respond.

 _XXX_

He'd been on his way to the bar when he heard the explosions, he actually had.

Still clad in his Green Arrow suit, a duffle bag filled with civilian clothes slung over the back of his D.E.O. issued motorcycle, Oliver Queen had truly, genuinely decided to get a drink and relax for a night. With no luck interrogating Cadmus sympathisers, Oliver had been torn. Part of him wanted to switch on a part of his brain that he hadn't used for a little while, the side that had no problems using torture to get information, the part that Barry had helped him accept that he didn't always need to use. The other part of him knew that torturing people in Kara's city wouldn't end well for him, and that part of him for some reason was telling him to take up Alex on her offer.

Oliver had been no more than a street away when he heard the tell-tale and all too familiar sound of an explosion, and a second later smoke was rising above the buildings and the scent of gunpowder and ash reached his nose. Kicking the bike into a higher gear, Oliver sped around the final corner and leapt from his bike bow in hand. As Oliver hugged the shadows, climbing onto a fire exit that sat above the alley where the bar was located, raised voices cut into the night.

"Roll out boys!" The voice called. "Lady here, she's about to drop her gun. Isn't she, huh?"

Looking down into the alley, Oliver saw Alex, a gun jammed into her back wielded by a man Oliver could only assume was Cadmus. A few feet away from them was a van and a gaggle of black-clad Cadmus agents roughly stowing someone away in the back. Gritting his teeth, Oliver turned his attention back to Alex. He had every faith that the elder Danvers was more than capable of taking care of herself, but the selfish part of him knew that protecting Alex had to be the higher priority.

"Let her go!" Oliver recognised Maggie's voice as she exited the bar, gun pointed at the man who held Alex hostage.

As the Cadmus agent wheeled around to face Maggie, Oliver was given his window. He didn't hesitate to leap from the fire escape, drawing back his bow as he sailed through the air. By the time Oliver's feet touched the ground, two arrows were already flying. The first buried itself in the back of the Cadmus agent's calf, and as he had recoiled in pain, the other arrow skewered his gun, sending it flying into the shadows. The scream of pain the Cadmus agent let out rang loudly in the night, and before Oliver could take a step towards him, Alex spun on her heel and drove a clenched fist into his head. As the agent thudded unconscious to the floor, Oliver walked over to Alex.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Alex answered quickly.

Before another word could be spoken, Winn came barrelling through the door, eyes fixed on something behind Oliver. The revving of an engine made Oliver whirl around to see the van speeding off down the alley, a woman visible in the rear windows calling out for help. As quickly as he could, Oliver fired a volley of arrows, aiming for the tires of the van, but each of them bounced harmlessly away.

 _XXX_

"I should have gotten there sooner," Winn stumbled over himself, staring at the screens at D.E.O mission control. "I mean, if these guys hadn't come in then I would've…" Winn trailed off with a groan, hands covering his face for a moment in frustration.

After rescuing Alex and subduing the Cadmus agent, Oliver had been caught up on a few details. Firstly; Winn was dating an alien. Oliver felt like he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was about that detail, but even so, it had taken a moment for him to process. Also, said alien girlfriend had been the one kidnapped by Cadmus outside the alien bar. With the Cadmus agent who assaulted Alex unconscious and no way of knowing where the remaining agents had gone, Alex had called in the attack to J'onn, and she, Oliver, and Winn had returned to the D.E.O. with the man in custody.

Oliver couldn't help but feel guilty for Winn's girlfriend being taken. He had made the call between Alex and the civilian. He had known an innocent was in danger, but he had allowed his emotional attachment to Kara and Alex to come first. If he had made a different call maybe Lyra wouldn't have been captured.

"We'll get her back, Winn." Oliver took a step towards the other man, swapping his bow from his dominant hand so he could rest a reassuring hand on Winn's shoulder.

"You don't know that!" Winn wheeled around to face Oliver. "We don't know anything, alright?"

Sensing Winn's growing frustration Oliver turned his attentions away. "J'onn, are you sure you can't get anything from this guy?" He asked, gesturing towards the live feed from the cell of the captured Cadmus agent displayed on the screens.

"Cadmus must have found a way to shield his thoughts from me," J'onn shook his head. "But we will find something, Winn. We always do."

"Everything I've tried, everyone Oliver went after, it's all lead to nothing. And if they hurt her…" Winn all-but shouted, turning to Alex sharply. "Your father. I'm sorry, but this is his fault."

"Agent Schott." J'onn's stern voice cut over Winn's frustrated outburst.

"Hey, uh…" Mon-El finally spoke up, taking a few steps towards them. "Winn, do you know what you need right now?"

"If you say "a drink" I swear…" Winn answered.

"Oh, I was gonna say a deep breath but that is a much better idea." Mon-El smiled. "Cause Zakarian Ale always takes the edge off. I'm gonna go get a bottle."

Without so much as another word, Mon-El hurried from the room and Oliver fought the urge to follow the Daxamite and scold his frankly juvenile behaviour. As he considered that option though, Oliver noticed out of the corner of his eye the way Alex glared up at the feed of the Cadmus agent. There was something about that look, something it took Oliver a moment to place, something Oliver had never seen in anyone but himself. A rage, but more than that, a desire to direct the rage. The moment Alex turned and headed for the elevator bank Oliver knew what she was going to do. Quickly following her, Oliver slipped into the lift just as the doors slid closed, turning to face Alex as she glared at him.

"What?" She snapped.

"Don't do this, Alex." Oliver warned.

"Do what? You've got no idea what I'm thinking."

Oliver scoffed before he could stop himself. "I know that look, Alex. I know it all too well. That anger, the rage, the need to make someone hurt. I've been there." Alex stayed silent as Oliver spoke, so the archer pressed on. "But I can see something else. You've never tortured a man before, you don't have it in you to do what's necessary."

"You don't know a damn thing about what I'm capable of." As Alex finished, the elevator doors pinged open and the agent marched out into the corridor.

"Alex," Oliver hissed, matching her stride and grabbing her upper arm to stop her walking away. "I'm not saying you're weak, after what I've seen since I've been on your Earth I know that much, but you don't know what it takes to do the things you're about to do. The toll that it takes on your soul, the price you have to pay to let the darkness in. I've already paid it, Alex, so let me help you."

There was a silence then. A silence that seemed to stretch out for far longer than it did, the air thick with tension and anticipation. Oliver held Alex's gaze, her hard eyes glaring into him. They seemed to be searching for something in the other, a recognition that they both knew was there. Oliver knew why he and Alex clashed the way they did, in looking into her steely eyes Oliver felt as though he was looking into a mirror.

"What are you?" Alex asked, a look of genuine curiosity and concern crossing her face for a moment before she masked it. "I mean, something must've happened to turn you into… _this_?"

"Purgatory." Oliver dropped his hand from Alex's arm and offered her a half-smile. "Come on, by my guess we've only got a few more minutes before J'onn realises we've gone AWOL."

Moving into a quick stride beside Alex, Oliver pulling on his hood and mask and following the agent as she pushed through the door into the holding cell. It was the first time Oliver had seen the D.E.O.'s prison facilities and the room seemed to be oddly bright; natural light seeping in through thin windows, light grey steel adoring the walls, and the in lieu of bars the front wall of the cell was an almost solid glass wall.

"Like I said to the other guy that came in to talk to me," The prisoner began without looking up. "I got nothing to say to you people."

The two came to a stop a few paces from the cell door and Oliver looked across to Alex in silent permission. The agent nodded and stepped forward, moving to the digital access panel set into the wall beside the cell. Alex stepped back as the door swung open, and Oliver marched into the cell, bow clenched tightly in hand.

When the prisoner finally looked up, Oliver remained silent, instead swinging a clenched fist into the side of the other man's temple. The force and surprise of the blow sent him careening from his chair, momentum carrying him into the wall before he collapsed to the floor. Oliver stepped forward gripping the prisoner by the collar and hauling him back up into the chair.

"You might not wanna talk to _these people_ ," Oliver growled. "but I'm betting you'll talk to me."

Tightening his grip on the prisoner's collar Oliver pulled him up to his feet, pressing hard and slamming him back against the far wall. Holding him in place, Oliver drew back his other arm and struck three consecutive blows into the prisoner's gut with his bow. The man tried to double over in pain, probably winded by the force of the strikes, but Oliver forced him back up.

"Cadmus! Tell me where they are!" Oliver bellowed.

"I can't," The man rushed, a drop of blood dripping from his mouth. "They put stuff in my head. They'll know! They'll kill me!"

Growling in frustration, Oliver quickly spun around and threw the prisoner to the ground. The man slid across the floor for a moment until he collided with the far wall.

"They aren't here, I am." Oliver drew back an arrow and took aim at the prisoner. "Who are you more afraid of?"

Oliver counted silently to three, and the prisoner said nothing but pleas for mercy and consistent muttering about how Cadmus could get to him wherever he was. Hesitating for one final moment, Oliver glanced over to Alex, who nodded her assent to his plan. Oliver had hardly begun to loosen his grip on his bowstring when…

"NO!"

Before his arrow could hit its target, a blur zipped in front of him accompanied by a gust of air. In front of Oliver stood Supergirl, the arrow caught in her hand and mere inches away from the prisoner's shoulder. The Girl of Steel turned on him in an instant, red in the face and breathing heavily.

"Outside. Now."

Gritting his teeth, Oliver silently complied, turning on his heel and marching from the room. Without needing to turn to check, Oliver knew Alex was following him, a second step of footfalls sounding out beside his own. The two walked out into the corridor and continued on a few feet on until they heard hurried footsteps behind them and came to a stop, turning to face Kara.

"What in the name of Rao is wrong with you?! Torturing a prisoner for information?!" She shouted at Oliver before rounding on Alex. "And you signed off on this? What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Kara, we…" Alex attempted but Kara immediately cut her off.

"No, I'm not listening to this, J'onn can deal with you. Just….go." Kara glared at her sister.

Alex threw Oliver a concerned glance but the archer simply nodded ins response, letting her know that he'd be fine. Still looking a little worried for Oliver's safety, Alex headed back towards the elevator bank, knowing that she could do nothing to soothe Kara's mood. Once the elevator doors slid shut, Oliver spoke again.

"Why did you stop us?" Oliver spoke before Kara had a chance to. "He was about to talk! If you hadn't pulled me out of there…"

"He wasn't going to say anything, and you know it!" Kara shouted back. "I couldn't let you torture a man."

"I had to!" Oliver yelled. Catching himself, he sighed heavily, meeting Kara's eyes and softening his voice. "I had to, Kara, because Alex _was_ going to torture him. That kind of thing, Kara, it eats away at you. Every time I or anyone else does this, there's a piece of you that you lose doing it, a piece of yourself that you have to sacrifice to the darkness. And I don't want Alex to have to go through that."

"Oliver, don't you get it? I _know_ that! That's why I'm stopping you! Because I don't want the man I lo…" Kara froze, before quickly continuing. "Because I don't want to see someone I care about hurting themselves."

The silence was deafening.

What Kara had almost said. _That_ word. The word that Oliver shied away from at every available opportunity. A word that held so many terrifying potentials. A word that that meant so much good and so much bad all at the same time.

A word that Oliver had reluctantly begun to associate with his emotional connection to Kara.

Yup. Love really was a terrifying word.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Not that he would ever admit it out loud, but Oliver was beginning to think that Diggle _might_ have had a point about his avoidance issues.

Kara had almost told him that she loved him, and he had ignored it. He had rationalised it away every way he could think; she hadn't really meant it, she just got caught up in the emotion of the moment, she loved him but she wasn't in love with him, she was just trying to appeal to his better nature. Every excuse seemed weaker than the last and Oliver knew it. The worst part was that he was almost certain that he felt the same way about Kara.

It couldn't happen though, that much he knew. Every woman he had let himself fall for since the Queen's Gambit sunk had just been one more heartache, one more person for him to lose. Laurel, Sara, McKenna, Susan, Felicity. All of them had ended because the life he led just didn't allow him to be attached to someone. Adrian Chase had tried to convince him as much, that everyone he touched died because of his crusade. Thanks to Diggle, Felicity, and the rest of the team Oliver knew that wasn't wholly true, but the words wouldn't stop ringing around in his head.

Kara was too pure for Oliver's world.

So, he had ignored what had happened between then outside the holding cell. Ignored feelings he knew were true because it was easier than confronting them. Unlike the previous week in National City though, Oliver found himself with no distractions. There was nothing for him to throw himself into. The xenophobes who were involved with Cadmus were far more afraid of them than they were The Green Arrow, and aside from the badly beaten prisoner, they had no leads. A return trip to the holding cells was more than out of the question, Oliver was certain that J'onn would've placed guards after his and Alex's attempted interrogation.

Instead, he had trained, thrown himself into a workout that was even more intense than his usual regimen. He had locked himself in the training room, for how long Oliver wasn't sure and pushed himself to his absolute limits. It worked, partially, the pounding of blood in his ears and aching of his muscles was enough for Kara to drift from his mind every so often, before some stray thought brought her right back to the forefront. It wasn't until Oliver heard his phone sounding out that he stopped.

 **Kara: J'onn just suspended Alex**

It took Oliver a few moments to process that. His gut was telling him to go and confront J'onn, to ask for answers, but given the strength of the relationship he and Alex shared, Oliver doubted the Martian would be in the mood to talk. Instead, he typed out a reply.

 **Oliver: What happened? If it's about the interrogation, that was my call, not Alex's**

Kara's reply was instant.

 **Kara: It's not, he thinks her judgment is compromised because of Jeremiah**

 **Oliver: And you agree with him?**

The flashing dots of Kara's reply pulsed for a few moments.

 **Kara: I do**

Oliver wasn't sure how to reply to that. Sure, Alex had been…well, ruthless didn't seem like an overstatement, but Oliver knew more than most that it was sometimes necessary to be ruthless. Reluctant as he was to do it, Oliver thought of Amanda Waller:

" _There are people in this world who deal only in extremes. It's naive to think that anything less than extreme measures will stop them."_

That was true of Cadmus more so than any enemy Oliver had faced before. Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson, Adrian Chase; they were all small fish compared to Cadmus. The organisation spanned the entire country to the best of the D.E.O.'s knowledge, potentially even further. They had the motive and the means to eradicate the Earth's non-terrestrial population and wouldn't stop until they saw that mission completed. With that said, Oliver didn't blame Alex at all for her extreme reaction to Cadmus, regardless of her personal stake in the crisis.

Clearly, Oliver had been considering his response for too long because his phone rang again.

 **Kara: I'm headed to her place now, I could use some backup**

Sighing heavily, Oliver shot back his response.

 **Oliver: Text me the address, I'll meet you there.**

 _XXX_

As it turned out, Alex's apartment was all but a block away from the D.E.O. and so for the first time since his arrival in National City Oliver had opted to traverse the streets as a pedestrian, by foot. It took him no more than five minutes to reach the apartment complex and ride the elevator to Alex's floor. As the doors slid open, Oliver saw Kara stood a little way down the hall, foot tapping nervously on the floor. Oliver had hardly set a foot out of the elevator when Kara began to speak.

"Thanks for coming," She spoke quickly. "I'm just a little worried, I know how invested Alex is in finding Jeremiah and I just need someone there who gets it."

"No problem." Oliver answered as reassuringly as he could.

Was he lying? Technically not, Oliver supposed. Kara had said she needed someone who 'got it', Oliver just neglected to mention that it was Alex's side of the argument that he sympathised with. More than most, Oliver knew that sometimes the mission came with personal involvement.

The life that he, Alex, and Kara all led came with that risk, that somewhere along the line, sooner or later, it would get personal. There was no way to avoid it, just yet another of the sacrifices they made to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Though, Oliver also understood J'onn's position. It wasn't quite the same, Oliver's team of ragtag vigilantes and the D.E.O. Alex was a federal agent, there were regulations, limitations, a proper order of things.

That was one of the advantages Oliver had, if it came down to it, he answered to no one but himself.

As Kara knocked on the door to Alex's apartment and pushed her way in Oliver returned focus to the situation at hand, following the Kryptonian silently into Alex's home.

"Alex?" Kara called out as they entered, and Oliver pushed the door softly shut behind them. "I heard what happened. J'onn shouldn't have done that to you."

That. Oliver had been informed by Kara on his walk over to the apartment, was J'onn shapeshifting into Jeremiah to test her loyalties. That was something Oliver wasn't sure he could reconcile. Underhanded tactics were one thing, but that was a personal betrayal, one that he couldn't quite reconcile with the man J'onn had appeared to be.

As Oliver thought, Kara walked quickly up to Alex, and he drifted a little. Opting to give the sisters a little space, Oliver stepped around the standoff to one side, meeting Maggie's eyes as he did. The woman offered him a sympathetic look, knowing that he had been coerced by Kara to be there and that there was nothing he could add to the conversation that would sway either woman's opinion.

"It was a betrayal, and it was unfair." Alex answered her sister. "And I need you to explain that to J'onn and just ask him to put me back on the case."

Swallowing heavily, Kara answered. "Well, I…I don't agree with his methods, but I do agree with his assessment. I think you should sit this one out."

"What?"

Oliver wasn't surprised at Alex's reaction. After all, family was family, if it were he and Thea in that situation Oliver knew full well that he would have expected her to back him all the way.

"Alex, I…you went way over the line interrogating that Cadmus agent, sided with J'onn when you thought he was Jeremiah. I mean…what is going on with you?"

"That's not what matters!" Alex fired back. "What matters is our father and there is still good in him. So, I just…I need you to convince J'onn, 'cause I have to be there when we find Cadmus. I have to protect him."

"Alex, listen to me. I'm not going to let anything happen to Jeremiah I promise. But you are putting all your focus on him when you should be focusing on the alien's we're trying to find. And when we find them, you risk making a bad call, putting him in danger. Or worse, getting yourself hurt." As Kara finished, a beep sounded from her watch and she glanced down at it. "I have to go, I'm sorry." She continued as she moved for the door. "I have to figure out how to get this article run. I'll call you later. Oliver are you…?"

Oliver simply nodded his head, silently letting Kara know he would be staying for a little while.

From the look of relief on her face, Oliver guessed that Kara thought he would be continuing her line of debate. As the door clicked shut behind her, Oliver glanced across to Maggie and caught her eye. Oliver could tell in a moment that Maggie was – disappointed seemed the best fit – at what Kara had said. Like Alex, Maggie had clearly been expecting Kara to back her.

"I assume you both agree with Kara?" Alex asked, still staring after her sister at the door.

Oliver answered the questioning look on Maggie's face with a shake of his head, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of…something…at the look of relief and acceptance of the brunette's face.

"Actually, I don't." Maggie spoke first. "You wanna protect your dad? That's what you need to do."

Alex turned at that, and she and Maggie took a few steps closer to each other. Shifting at little uncomfortably, Oliver rolled his left hand, feeling as though he was intruding on a moment that should have been private.

"So, you'll help me?"

"Ride or die?"

"And you?" Alex turned her attention to Oliver.

With a heavy sigh, Oliver crossed his arms over his chest before answering. "I think as your boss J'onn had his reasons for suspending you, and I agree with them." Before Alex could answer he pressed on. "But as your friend, your family, he shouldn't have done what he did. Any of us would've done the same thing in your position, Alex, Kara included."

"You tried telling that to her?" Maggie asked pointedly.

"Kara has an inability to see that sometimes the rule book just gets in the way." Oliver answered quickly.

"So, what's next?" Maggie questioned them both.

Oliver allowed a grin to slip onto his lips. "We tear up the rule book." He weighed his words carefully, unable to get Waller out of his head. "A…friend, once told me that there are people in this world who deal only in extremes and that it's naive to think that anything less than extreme measures will stop them. I'm going to show you both how a vigilante does this job."

 _XXX_

The trio had worked hard to concoct a plan that would allow them to track down Cadmus. The options were limited. In the time following Jeremiah's theft of the National Alien Registry the D.E.O. had exhausted almost every line of inquiry, both on and off the books thanks to Oliver's presence. The only tactic left Oliver could think of was not necessarily one that would be officially approved of by J'onn, and that was if it even worked.

With the help of Maggie, who had a surprisingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the alien underground in National City, they had created a shortlist of the most likely targets for Cadmus. Even though the abductions had gone unreported, Maggie had mentioned that they had not gone unnoticed by the alien community of National City. Those who were wise enough or fearful enough to have picked up on the situation had gone into relative hiding. Left with a list of aliens who were both on the registry and not in hiding, the trio had been landed with the task of deciding which of the names that remained was the most likely target for Cadmus. Maggie had supplied one name in particular, an alien by the name of Brian. Brian was, apparently, the go-to alien to see for more than a little illegal activity, and on top of that had a strange relationship with self-preservation.

It hadn't taken much for Maggie to convince Brian to go along with their plan, the threat of being left alone with Oliver – who had lingered menacingly in the shadows fully clad in his armour – was enough to make him agreeable. The next day, the trio had tailed Brian as he made his way around the city, instructing him to be obvious but not too obvious.

The late afternoon sun was bearing down on them before they saw any signs of Cadmus. Brian had sunk into a quieter spot, underneath the highway to make a 'business call' when Oliver had spotted them. A standard police cruiser followed closely by a black van that was identical to the one Oliver recalled from the night Lyra had been abducted. Oliver swiftly took a position atop an abandoned shipping crate as Maggie and Alex headed into cover closer to Brian's car. The van pulled to a stop at a safe distance while the cruiser pulled up a few feet behind Brian, flashing the sirens to get his attention.

D.E.O. issue rifle in hand – Oliver didn't want to question why Maggie had one in her apartment – Oliver watched carefully as the officer made his way to Brian. At a distance, Oliver couldn't hear the exchange between the two and a moment later Brian was walking to the rear of his car alongside the officer. Then, the van was moving again, hurrying forward and skidding to a stop alongside the cruiser while the officer slammed Brian's head into the lid of the trunk. Oliver winced a little, knowing that the blow would have done damage and aimed the rifle.

As the masked men jumped from the van and began to wrestle Brian inside, Alex stepped from her cover.

"Officer, I think that man needs help." Oliver heard her voice through his comms.

The moment the officer turned to face Alex he was met with a right cross, the unexpected blow dropping the man to the floor. The sound drew the attention of the masked men and they both turned around, but they were too slow. Before either of them could react, Maggie had dropped them both with a quick burst from Alex's sidearm. Quickly scanning the area to make sure they were in the clear, Oliver slung the rifle over his shoulder and dropped down to the ground, quickly moving towards the two women.

By the time he reached them, Alex was in the driver's seat of the van and Maggie was releasing Brian from his restraints. While the two women worked, Oliver drew a set of zip ties from his pocket and bound the wrists of all three Cadmus agents, not wanting to risk them getting back up.

"Find anything?" Maggie asked when Alex returned to them.

"Yeah, GPS coordinates for everywhere the van has been." Alex answered. "I know where Cadmus is."

Oliver took a step back, sensing that the two women needed to talk.

"Want me to go with you?"

"No, I gotta do it alone." Alex affirmed before pulling Maggie in for a kiss.

With a glare from Oliver, Brian scampered away and the three were left alone.

"You're gonna need this." Maggie offered Alex her gun back.

The agent took it without another word and headed off in the direction of her bike. Once Alex was a safe distance away, Maggie walked up to Oliver's side.

"You going to follow her?"

Oliver grinned a little beside himself. "Kara would kill me if I didn't."

 _XXX_

Oliver tracked Alex to an abandoned LuthorCorp Naval Research facility a few miles outside National City. The facility was isolated from anything nearby and, from the outside, looked to be in total disrepair – Oliver wasn't surprised that it hadn't come up in any of their searches; if there was anything he knew about the Luthor's it was that they knew how to keep things hidden. By the time Alex breached the facility, night had fallen. Watching the agent slip inside through a fire door, Oliver took a pause to scan his eyes over the building's exterior defences…or lack thereof. It was a little strange for a Cadmus facility to be so poorly guarded. A silent part of him hoped that Lillian Luthor's arrogance was responsible, but a larger part of him realised it meant Cadmus probably already knew Alex was there. With a grimace, Oliver drew up his hood and followed Alex.

The inside of the facility was dimly lit and filled with raised walkways and platforms, the entire ceiling laced with a criss-cross arrangement of steel support beams. As Alex made her way around on the ground, Oliver fired off a grappling arrow and took to the ceiling, using the support structures to make his way around undetected in the dark. Wanting to maintain the element of surprise should Alex get caught, Oliver opted not to let her know he was with her, and so silently tracked her movements from above.

Then, as she moved along one of the suspended walkways, Oliver took action. Just ahead of Alex were two Cadmus guards. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to take them down without drawing attention to herself, Oliver quickly let off two shots, the arrows finding their mark flawlessly and silently, sending the two agents collapsing to the ground. As soon as they were down, Alex turned and looked into the rafters, a small grin slipping over her lips before it was forced down. Moving closer, Oliver leapt from his perch and dropped down onto the walkway next to Alex.

"You cut that pretty close." The agent remarked dryly.

Oliver failed to mask a scoff. "Maggie told you?"

"Texted me as soon as you turned your back."

Oliver didn't have time to reply as two more groups of Cadmus agents began to descend on them. briefly meeting each other's eyes in silent agreement, the two began to move, Alex taking aim at the group approaching from in front of them, and Oliver stepping around her to stand against the other group. Before Oliver could draw an arrow, he heard a voice call out.

"Hold your fire!"

Oliver didn't need to turn to know who that voice belonged to. With a growl building in his throat, Oliver turned on his heel and watched as Jeremiah Danvers walked towards them. Oliver's fingers itched to test out his new bow against the man, to reach for his quiver and end Jeremiah there and then. It would be easy enough for him to get the shot off before any of the Cadmus grunts could even raise their guns. Before he could take action, Alex turned to look at him, eyes silently pleading to give her a chance. Begrudgingly, Oliver fought down the urge to attack and calmed himself as best he could.

Jeremiah seemed satisfied enough at that and with a few quick words to the grunts, Oliver and Alex were disarmed and being escorted from the walkway towards what seemed to be a computer hub. Jeremiah had Alex's rucksack slung over his shoulder, her gun tucked into his belt, and Oliver's bow grasped firmly in hand. As they approached the grunts broke off, presumably to return to their posts, and the trio walked up the short steps to the hub.

"You shouldn't have come after me, Alex. You could have been killed." Jeremiah hissed at Alex.

As they reached the top of the steps, Jeremiah dropped Alex's rucksack to the floor along with his bow, Oliver noting the location and endeavouring to stay as close to them as he could. Alex walked deeper into the hub, her eyes scanning over each of the screens. Doing the same, Oliver came up to a loss, the displays were rife with information on alien technology that he didn't know how to process.

"What the hell is that?" Alex asked, looking at a digital model of a spacecraft.

"It's a Hoshin frigate," Jeremiah answered as his daughter turned to him. "Best in the Kazark fleet. As soon as it breaches atmosphere it's gonna jump to lightspeed and go to Takron-Galtos. They'll find passage home from there."

"Cadmus is sending them back?" Oliver asked, surprised that the plan seemed almost…kind.

"It was my idea." Jeremiah replied coolly.

"I don't understand." The look of horror that overcame Alex's face as she spoke was almost too much for Oliver to witness.

He knew that look far too well, he himself had worn it countless times since he had left Starling City on the Queen's Gambit. It was a special kind of horror, learning that one's parents weren't the good and pure thing that you always hoped they were. Finding out both his parents had been involved in the undertaking, his mother's affair with Malcolm Merlyn, that his father had killed a man and covered it up…Oliver was no stranger to the emotion he knew Alex had to be feeling.

"Lillian was going to kill them all." Jeremiah attempted to defend his actions.

"You are forcibly deporting them," Alex began, taking a step towards her father. "I mean, some of them have escaped famine and poverty and genocide."

"At least this way they have a chance." He countered.

"It was all a lie."

Oliver felt his fists clench involuntarily as he watched the betrayal in Alex's eyes grow even deeper.

"No."

"No," Alex didn't give her father a chance to speak. "Everything you told me in the woods. You said that you were working for Cadmus for me."

"And I am. From the moment Cadmus took me prisoner they told me they were gonna kill you and Kara unless I did what they said. I made my choice. Protect my girls at all costs."

It was sincere. Oliver couldn't help but feel a little surprised at that. He recognised something in Jeremiah in that moment, something he hadn't seen before. He saw something that he recognised in himself. The way Jeremiah had spoken to Alex, the emotion behind his eyes, Oliver had felt that too; when Damian Darhk had taken William. Seeing the video Darhk sent him, knowing that a psychopath with unknowable reach had his son, it had been something else entirely. Oliver had known in that moment that there was no line that he wouldn't cross to protect his son. Jeremiah had done what any father would have done.

"How could you think that we would want you to hurt others to protect us?" Alex spoke after a moment.

Jeremiah seemed to mull his answer over, trying to find the words.

"There are some things," He began, stepping around Alex. "That you will never understand until you're a parent."

There it was. The only thing Oliver had seen in Jeremiah that he could empathise with. The need of a parent to protect their child at all costs. As Jeremiah turned to look at Alex, he briefly caught Oliver's eyes. The older man paused for a moment, silently studying Oliver. Knowing immediately that his face betrayed his thoughts, Oliver put up his practiced mask, giving nothing further away.

"Do you think mom would understand this?" Alex challenged.

"I can only hope that someday she will."

With that, both Jeremiah and Alex fell silent, neither willing to continue the argument. As Jeremiah set to work on one of the many computers in the hub, Oliver began to study their surroundings, looking for a way out. His bow was still where Jeremiah had left it, no more than two paces away, and his quiver was still strapped to his back. Oliver was tempted to make a move, but he couldn't be sure that he would be able to reach his bow and take down the guards before they could move to counter him. Then there would be the problem of Jeremiah's enhanced arm, even with his new bow Oliver wasn't sure if he could handle that level of strength.

Oliver was snapped from his tactical planning when Alex spoke again.

"Please, dad, it's not too late." Alex pleaded as she moved to her father's side.

"I'm afraid it is, agent Danvers." An unfamiliar voice spoke.

Oliver turned his head to see the infamous Lillian Luthor making her way into the hub. Near two weeks in National City and Oliver had never seen the woman in the flesh. He had expected more.

"Get to your launch stations!" Lillian announced to the rest of the Cadmus agents.

"Lillian, what are you doing?" Jeremiah demanded.

"Damage control." Lillian answered simply as she began to type commands into one of the computers. "The men I sent to delay my daughter failed, which means Supergirl is on her way right now. We're going to cut our losses." With that, Lillian turned to look at them, a curious look coming over her face as she seemed to notice Oliver for the first time. Then, she turned back to the computer. "We'll launch the ship with the aliens already loaded. We've got a few hundred of them. It's not quite what I had envisioned, but it's a start."

For a split second, Oliver and Alex shared a look, knowing they had to do everything in their power to delay the launch in case Kara couldn't make it in time.

"Turn it off. Now!" Oliver growled.

The Luthor matriarch paused in her preparations for the launch to study Oliver for a moment.

"So, you're this new do-gooder that's been harassing my agents?" Lillian questioned with a look of amusement on her face. "Tell me, is that outfit supposed to be intimidating where you come from?"

Oliver was almost impressed by Lillian Luthor. If she weren't a xenophobic maniac, the woman could have been brilliant. Some dim part of Oliver noted that in another life Lillian and his mother could well have been worryingly good friends.

"Lillian, do you really think that we would walk into the lion's den without a whip?" Alex began, drawing something from her pocket. "I planted ten Haldorr particle mines all over his facility."

The agent paused, holding up the detonator. "Stop the launch."

Lillian regarded Alex with a curious gaze. "You're bluffing."

"Wanna bet?" Alex smirked.

The explosion rang out across the facility, Oliver spinning on his heel as it did to see where it came from. Part of the gantry he and Alex had been walking on a few minutes prior exploding into flame and sending a few guards flying. The guards in the hub reacted quickly, focusing their attention on Alex. The agent met Oliver's eyes for a second, her gaze quickly flicking over to his bow and then back to him, silently telling him her plan.

"The rest of the bombs are on a dead-man switch!" Alex announced loudly holding the attention of everyone in the hub. "I let this go and the entire place lights up."

While everyone's attention was on Alex Oliver slipped closer to his bow, his weapon only an arm's reach away. As soon as it was needed, he would be able to take it up without hesitation.

"I won't stop this." Lillian sneered.

"I don't need you to." Then, Alex turned her attention to Jeremiah. "Dad, it's time for you to do what you taught your daughters to do. Are you with me?"

"Tamper with my launch Jeremiah," Lillian began coldly. "And I declare war on your entire family."

"We're going to protect each other. Always." Alex countered. "Dad, make this right."

The air seemed to thicken as they all awaited Jeremiah's answer. Either way, Oliver was poised to attack, his fingers with itching, instinct screaming at him to take up his bow and fight. Oliver's hand reached out slowly, knowing that none of the eyes in the room were focused on him, his bow was merely an inch away. Father and daughter looked into each other's eyes, fifteen years of emotion and heartbreak and hurt coming to a head with a few hundred lives in the balance.

Then, Jeremiah offered an almost imperceptible nod.

The three of them leapt into action instantly. Oliver took his bow into his hand and lashed out at the guard in front of him. With a heavy stroke he took the guards legs out from under him and the man fell to the floor with a loud grunt. Making sure he stayed down, Oliver swung his leg around and planted a vicious kick to the side of his head, knocking the man out cold. By the time Oliver looked up, Jeremiah and Alex had dropped the guards closest to them too. Without a word, Jeremiah took Alex's gun from his belt and held it out to her. With a look of relief on her face, Alex took it, without hesitation turning it on Lillian. Oliver did the same, drawing an arrow and taking a stance by Alex's side.

"Now stop the launch." Alex spoke pointedly.

"I can't." Lillian responded bluntly.

"Give my daughter the override code," Jeremiah demanded.

"There isn't one. The only way to stop that ship, is to drop that stick."

Lillian grinned wickedly, so sure of herself. Alex held up the detonator with her free hand, hesitating for only a moment. Then, she let it go. The series of explosions that began to ring out from throughout the facility shook the whole structure down to its foundations. Lillian staggered over to a viewing window, looking out as the facility began to explode.

"I'm going to go on that ship, stop the launch from the inside." Alex announced.

"Okay, go!" Jeremiah nodded. "I'm going to try and hack in from here!"

Alex started for the steps and Oliver moved to follow her. The agent froze in her tracks, putting a hand on Oliver's shoulder to stop him.

"I need you to stay, watch his back."

"Alex!" Oliver tried to protest but she cut him off.

"Oliver, please! I can't lose him again."

With a growl of frustration, Oliver spoke. "Okay fine go!"

Alex smiled grimly at him and took off again. As soon as the agent disappeared down the steps and around the corner, Oliver turned and started back towards Jeremiah and Lillian. He hardly took a step before he saw someone approaching from behind Jeremiah. Oliver recognised the real Hank Henshaw immediately, the metal plate covering the right side of his face a damning mark. Before the Cadmus agent could reach his target, Oliver drew back his bow.

"Jeremiah, behind you!" Oliver called as he fired off an arrow.

The projectile bounced harmlessly off the shoulder of the cyborg who continued on unperturbed. Jeremiah span around, able to catch the fist of the other man before it connected. The two cybernetically enhanced men grappled for a few moments, Oliver wholly unable to get an idea of who was more likely to come out on top. Weighing his options carefully, Oliver skirted around the edges of the fight. Jeremiah had been a tough enough fight, and he only had one arm modified and very little combat training. The extent of Hank Henshaw's upgrade was a mystery to Oliver, though he knew through the D.E.O. files that Henshaw was an expert in hand-to-hand combat. When Jeremiah and Henshaw separated, Oliver took action.

Jeremiah had been pinned to the ground but threw Henshaw off him and rolled to his feet. The cyborg was still kneeling, and Oliver stepped in. His new bow hadn't been the extent of the upgrades Winn had bequeathed him, the Nth metal modifications also featured in his arsenal. Knowing it was his best chance at throwing the cyborg off guard, Oliver fired off an Nth metal-tipped arrow. Unlike his first attack, the Nth metal projectile worked flawlessly, the arrow burying itself in Henshaw's shoulder, making the man growl in pain. Jeremiah stepped back in, driving a gruelling right cross against the cyborg and sending him staggering back a few paces. Before Henshaw could mount a counter attack, Jeremiah ripped the arrow from the cyborg's shoulder and brandished it like a knife.

The two enhanced men re-entered their brawl, but with the damage done to Henshaw's shoulder and Jeremiah using the Nth metal arrow, Jeremiah quickly took the upper hand. Careful slashes with the tip of the arrow against the cyborg allowed Jeremiah to gain inch after inch in the fight. Even then, Henshaw showed no sign of giving up, sheer stubbornness winning out. Another explosion rang out, and Oliver looked up to see the frigate taking off into the night sky, Alex still on board. The facility was collapsing, the frigate was gone, and Oliver knew the fight needed to be ended swiftly. Drawing a taser arrow from his quiver, Oliver disabled the current control, setting the arrow so that the full electrical payload would be unleashed on impact. He wasn't entirely sure of how high that would be, Felicity had a tendency to over-engineer the team's equipment.

Drawing back the arrow, Oliver waited for his opportunity. Jeremiah had seen that he was waiting for a clear shot and the older man drove a clenched fist into Henshaw's chest, sending him staggering back a few paces. Then Oliver fired. The arrow buried itself into the already open wound in Henshaw's shoulder, the fizzling of the electricity ringing out. Henshaw howled in pain for a moment, then his one good eye rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

With a sigh of relief, Oliver lowered his bow as Jeremiah tossed the Nth metal arrow to the ground.

"We still need to help Alex." Oliver began, walking towards the still active bank of computers.

He didn't make it to the computers before he paused. Some deep part of Oliver's brain scolded him for not seeing it coming, he was supposed to be able to read people better than that...he was supposed to be smarter than that. Though, Oliver supposed, being on Earth-38 had taught him a thing or two about optimism, and that clouded judgment worse than anything else. A grimace on his face, Oliver slowly turned to Jeremiah, the older man still fixed where he had been stood when the fight ended. Allowing his eyes to flit shut for just a moment, Oliver steeled himself, knowing that no matter his actions he would once more be forced to be the harbinger of heartbreak for the Danvers family.

"Don't make me do this." Oliver spoke, fingers already prepared to reach for his quiver.

"You can't take me in, Oliver." Jeremiah sighed. "I'm asking you…not to take me in."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!" Oliver growled over the flickering of flames that surrounded them.

Jeremiah sucked in a breath before answering. "Because it would break my girl's hearts. I can't let my girls go through that. I can't let them get hurt anymore because of me." Jeremiah paused. "But you understand that. You're a father, aren't you?"

Oliver didn't answer, his whole body tensed as he waited for Jeremiah to continue.

"I saw the look in your eyes when I told Alex the truth. You only see that look in a parent's eyes. You know that there's nothing that a father won't do for his child, no line that can't be crossed to protect them, because there is nothing in this world that means more than they do."

Oliver's resolve weakened as Jeremiah spoke. He knew that he was right, they both did. There was no line in the sand when it came to protecting family.

"I know you care for Alex and Kara, Oliver. I saw the way you and Kara looked at each other back at the D.E.O. I know how much she means to you. You know, that if you take me in, no matter my motives, I committed treason. As far as the government is concerned I'm a terrorist. You take me in, and you'll be forcing them to watch me put on trial and then thrown in whatever god awful hole people like me get thrown into. You have to let me go."

Oliver sighed, his shoulders sagging a little as he accepted that he knew Jeremiah was right. He tried to imagine their roles reversed. If it came down to William having to watch him getting arrested for being The Green Arrow and all the suffering that came with it, or him running away so that William would be spared that pain…there wasn't a lot of choice. Jeremiah was right.

"You're right." Oliver spoke lowly.

Reaching into his quiver, Oliver drew a tracer arrow. After breaking the nanite housing from the shaft of the arrow, Oliver tossed the device to Jeremiah, who caught it deftly.

"Tracking nanites," Oliver explained. "In case you ever need help. The D.E.O. has their frequency, just turn them on and they'll come running."

Jeremiah nodded in understanding.

"Thank you, Oliver." The older man smiled sadly. "Don't tell Alex and Kara about this, just…say that I escaped. They wouldn't understand why I have to do this."

Jeremiah turned, walking towards the edge of the observation platform and to the staircase that led back down into the facility. He paused at the top of the stairs, "Keep an eye on my girls for me?"

"Always."

 _ **XXX**_


End file.
